The Child Health Protection Act: advocacy must continue

Balancing the Scales: The Role of the Canadian Supreme Court in Weighing Commercial Speech and Public Health

The Supreme Court of Canada has established that commercial speech is protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that commercial speech exists along a continuum of utility and value, which is balanced against objectives such as public health. This article examines jurisprudence to determine when infringements on commercial speech are acceptable, analyzing considerations of evidence, rational connections between policies and outcomes, proportionality, and minimal impairment.

Stakeholder interactions with the federal government related to Bill S-228 and marketing to kids in Canada: a quantitative descriptive study

BACKGROUND

Canadian federal restrictions on food marketing to children (children's marketing) were proposed in 2016 as Bill S-228, the Child Health Protection Act, which subsequently died on the parliamentary table. This study quantified the interactions (meetings, correspondence and lobbying) related to Bill S-228 and children's marketing by different stakeholders with the federal government.

METHODS

Interactions between all stakeholders and government related to children's marketing and Bill S-228 (Sept. 1, 2016-Sept. 30, 2019) were analyzed. These included the "Meetings and correspondence on healthy eating" database, detailing interactions between stakeholders and Health Canada related to nutrition policies; and Canada's Registry of Lobbyists, reporting activities of paid lobbyists. We categorized the interactions by stakeholder type (industry, nonindustry and mixed), and analyzed the number and type of interactions with different government offices.

RESULTS

We analyzed 139 meetings, 65 lobbying registrants, 215 lobbying registrations and 3418 communications related to children's marketing and Bill S-228. Most interactions were from industry stakeholders, including 84.2% of meetings (117/139), 81.5% of lobbying registrants (53/65), 83.3% of lobbying registrations (179/215) and 83.9% of communications (2866/3418). Most interactions (> 80%) in the highest-ranking government offices were by industry.

INTERPRETATION

Industry stakeholders interacted with government more often, more broadly and with higher ranking offices than nonindustry stakeholders on subjects related to children's marketing and Bill S-228. Although further research is needed to analyze the nature of the discourse around children's marketing, it is apparent that industry viewpoints were more prominent than those of nonindustry stakeholders.