A new Senate bill would ban food and soft drink marketing that targets kids under age 13, with the goal of reducing junk food consumption and obesity in Canada.

Conservative Senator Nancy Greene Raine — who introduced the bill, S-228 — said food purchasing decisions should be left to parents alone.

“I don’t think it’s fair to parents to be nagged by a child saying ‘Buy this! Buy this!’” she told reporters at a press conference Wednesday.

“It’s almost impossible if children have already been almost brainwashed.”

The bill, introduced in first reading Tuesday, would amend the Food and Drugs Act, making it illegal to label, package or advertise any food or beverage so it’s directed at children. These kind of regulations already exist in Quebec.

It follows the work of a spring Senate committee report on climbing obesity rates in Canada, which, among other things, recommended the government consider introducing a sugary drink tax, ban partially hydrogenated oils, and review Canada’s Food Guide.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that the marketing targeted at children is one of the causes,” Green Raine said. “Healthy foods don’t have marketing budgets.”

The policy is something already on the Liberal government’s to do list and in the health minister’s mandate letter, but Green Raine said she was already working on developing the bill and this would speed up the process given the other major work the minister has to worry about over the next year, including getting a new federal health accord hammered out for budget time.

Greene Raine said when she reached out to Philpott she received support for the bill in principal.

“I did call the minister of health and explained what I was doing, and she was very supportive,” she said.

Andrew MacKendrick, a spokesperson from Philpott’s office, says while the minister had a positive conversation about it, that doesn’t necessarily mean support from the government quite yet.

“Government is still developing an official position on the approach being taken in the bill,” he said.

The bill has support from a range of associations part of the Stop Marketing to Kids Coalition, including the Dietitians of Canada, Canadian Cancer Society, Canadian Diabetes Association, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

https://ipolitics.ca/2016/09/28/senate-bill-would-ban-junk-food-ads-to-kids/