Senate report calls for tax on sugary drinks to combat obesity
Posted March 1, 2016 11:42 am.
Last Updated March 2, 2016 7:45 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) – There is an obesity crisis in Canada. That’s the finding of a new senate committee report which says two thirds of adults and one third of children in our country are obese or overweight.
“We can’t sugarcoat it any longer,” says Senator Kelvin Ogilvie, who says the obesity problem is linked to 66,000 deaths each year and costs our health care system billions of dollars every year.
“There is an obesity crisis in Canada and sugar is a big part of that problem,” he adds.
Ready-to-eat foods, sugary drinks and a less active society are all contributing factors. Senator Art Eggleton says we need a national strategy to deal with this problem.
“Our committee recommends that the government consider taxing sugar-sweetened and artifically sweetened drinks,” says Eggleton.
That includes soda pop and many fruit juices.
The report also calls for a ban on advertising food and drinks to children, as well as an overhaul of the Canada Food Guide.
David Sculthorpe with the Heart and Stroke Foundation is applauding the report and what it could mean for our children. “By helping them develop good eating habit early, we are ultimately reducing their risk of developing heart disease or stroke later in life.”
The senators are confident the Trudeau government can take quick action to make these changes.
The number of obese adults has doubled in Canada since 1980. The number of obese children has tripled.
Sixty-six thousand people die every year from conditions linked to excess weight.
CTF says tax wouldn’t work
Critics say Canadians won’t let a tax come between them and their sugary drinks. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says a tax won’t curb our sugar habit.
It’s not surprising an anti-tax group doesn’t want another tax, but the federal director of CTF says he knows this would not help us live healthier.
Aaron Wudrick says other countries have tried and didn’t see the change they had hoped for.
“Often, people simply make other bad choices that just don’t involve sugar. For example, they switch from sugary things to salty things, they switch away from pop to things like juice which also has a lot of sugar so there are all these unintended consequences to these taxes.”
He points to an example in Denmark where a fat tax was quickly repealed after it became obvious people were buying their junk food in neighbouring countries.
