A Senate bill to limit advertising of sugary food and drinks to children under 17 ignores steps taken by Canadian beverage makers to reduce the caloric content of their products, says Jim Goetz, President of the Canadian Beverage Association. In addition, the bill will result in “a multibillion dollar impact on GDP and revenues for Canada's struggling media industry and sponsorship of amateur sports, cultural events, and community giving, lost tax revenues for Ottawa and the provinces and tens of thousands of job losses,” Goetz told the Commons finance committee. “The CBA and its members recognize that obesity poses a critical challenge to individuals, public health, and government resources,” he said. “At the same time, Statistics Canada data shows that the consumption of calories from beverages in Canada has continued to decline as obesity rates, unfortunately, have increased over the last 20 years.” The bill developed by Senator Nancy Greene Raine would amend the Food and Drugs Act to prohibit the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children under 17 to help curb obesity. It was approved unanimously the Senate and now is before the Commons. “As shown in the ads standards report of the Canadian Children's Food and Beverage Advertising initiative 2016 compliance, we have a positive record as an industry in adhering to our guidelines on marketing to children, which bans the marketing of our products to children under the age of 12,” Goetz said. “The Conference Board of Canada, our partner in our balanced calorie initiative, will be releasing our second report on the impact of our initiative,” he said. We expect that this report will show at least a 9% decrease in calories—calories being sugar—in our products since 2015. This means in just 11 years our industry has already removed 29% of the calories that Canadians consume from our beverages, unprecedented in the food and beverage industry.” In his mandate letter to Ginette Petitpas Taylor, the new Health Minister, Prime Minister Trudeau called for legislation similar to Quebec's limit on advertising and marketing aimed at children, Goetz said. “We support that. We're not opposed to the legislation.” While Quebec's law outlaws essentially all marketing to children, the Senate bill aims at only certain food and beverage products and applies to children under 17 compared to 13 in Quebec. “We do have concerns with legislation but that is then leading into adult advertising. For example, that means you probably would not be able to show an advertisement for orange juice on Hockey Night in Canada but you would be able to show a beer ad.” Another problem with the bill is it “will limit sponsorship events that are really targeted at adults,” he said. “Because that age is 17 you're going to have a lot of events that are now sponsored by food and beverage companies that are simply no longer going to be able to occur in Canada.” Getz also disputed claims that a Mexican ban on ads for sugary foods and drinks has curbed obesity in that country. A University of Mexico study shows “obesity has continued to rise and the revenue from the tax has also continued to rise and 60% of that revenue from the tax is coming from Mexico's poorest households. We also know that there have been 11,000 job losses up and down the value chain. These are not the markers of a successful health or tax policy.” The committee should tell the government to “protect our jobs and investment in Canada by ensuring regulation, policy, and taxation measures that are principle-based, science-based, and equitable,” he said. “CBA members generate employment for more than 60,000 Canadians at better than average wages. Beverage industry salaries are, on average, 26% to 38% higher than the average for all manufacturing industries across the country. We contribute over $500 million in tax revenue to the federal government and an additional $400 million in provincial taxes.” Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.