Registration - In-house Corporation

Subject Matters

• Broadcasting
• Budget
• Consumer Issues
• Government Procurement
• Health
• International Trade
• Justice and Law Enforcement
• Science and Technology
• Taxation and Finance

Subject Matter Details

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution

• Food Taxes: Amend definition of "Basic Groceries" in the Excise Tax Act to ensure that food taxing policies promote, rather than discourage healthy eating.

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution, Policies or Program

• Institutional Conflicts of Interest: Implementing safeguards against institutional conflicts of interest in federal law as, for instance, elaborated in the World Health Organization Framework for Interaction with Non-State Actors, May 2016 and "Technical Report: Addressing and Managing Conflicts of Interest in the Planning and Delivery of Nutrition Programmes at Country Level," October 2015

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution, Policies or Program, Regulation

• Advocate improvements to the federal government response to COVID-19 to minimize the risk to health.
• Advocate legislative or regulatory amendments to ensure that the Government of Canada implements guidance from the "World Health Organization in relation to the International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes" likely by means of amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations, possibly with a mandate from Parliament.
• Advocate measures to reduce consumption of alcohol by adults, chiefly by limits on advertising, limits on price promotions, and mandatory health risk warning labels. Advocate investigations into the use of packaging, refrigeration, flavouring, pricing, and advertising to promote consumption of under-aged consumers and the extent to which school curriculum does and could reduce risk of chronic and heavy episodic drinking. Advocate the regular publication of national and provincial sales statistics (including volumes of alcohol and sales), and quantify the extent to which government and private sector parties benefit and suffer from the consumption of alcohol consumption.
• Advocate public health and conflict of interest safeguards in the formation of a national food policy, including a national school food program
• Advocate that the Government of Canada support the negotiation and eventual adoption of the United Nations Human Right's Council's "Legally Binding Instrument" (LBI) on business and human rights, and the proposed Convention on the Right to Development, including the right to health, and the inclusion of a corporate-human-rights-abuser-pay principle in the replenishment of the International Victims [Advocacy] Fund by codifying a 2% levy on lawsuits relying on the LBI to be paid to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and broad authority to regulating the marketing of food and alcohol, as well as support the improvement of water management infrastructure (for drinking, cooking, sanitation, irrigation, and electric power generation) in Low- and Middle-Income-Countries.
• Advocate that the federal government implement measures to fulfill its commitments under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, especially in the context of its ongoing periodic review, including measures to regulate the marketing of breast-milk substitutes, to restrict advertising directed at children, to implement a universal healthy school food program, to mandate Child Rights Impact Assessments in relation to all government law reform and program spending measures.
• Propose revisions to the regulation of pesticides in Canada, including but not limited to glyphosate and chlorpyrifos, and changes to the oversight of the Pest Management Regulatory Authority to ensure that evaluations and re-evaluations of pesticides are conducted in a timely, transparent manner, properly consider all available evidence (including studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals), and apply conflict-of-interest safeguards to supplier-sponsored studies, and other measures to protect public health, occupational health, and the environment.
• Urge various law reforms and program innovations to facilitate the government's poverty reduction strategy, especially in relation to nutrition and affordability of healthy food particularly in relation to the work of the National Advisory Council on Poverty housed at Employment and Social Development Canada.

Legislative Proposal, Bill or Resolution, Regulation

• Advertising to Children: Restricting advertising directed at children as proposed in the Government's 2015 election platform
• Front-of-Package Nutrition Labelling: Advocate reforms to nutrition labelling, especially on the front of food packages and on restaurant menus (regulatory proposal published in Canada Gazette, Part I and entitled "Regulations Amending the Food and Drug Regulations — Nutrition Labelling, Other Labelling Provisions and Food Colours" and possible subsequent bills, motions, or regulations

Policies or Program

• Generally, enforcement of food-related law in comparison to other federal laws in light of enforcement statistics
• International Health and Trade Policy: Urge the Government of Canada (esp. through the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada) to adopt health-promoting positions in negotiating global standard-setting by the World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization's Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Policies or Program, Regulation

• Canada's Food Guide: Advocate revisions to Canada's Food Guide, 2007 and 2019 Snapshot to urge Health Canada to revise the dietary advice therein to better comport with scientific understanding about the relationship between diet and disease and ensure that food industry interests do not undermine the advice, particularly ensuring that the full and concise versions of the Guide better counsel Canadians than the over-simplified and partly misleading Snapshot published in January 2019.
• Marketing and Safety Safeguards for Energy Drinks: Improving the regulation of energy drinks, the current regulation of which is described in "Energy Drinks: An Assessment of the Potential Health Risks in the Canadian Context, 2013"
• Natural Health Products (NHPs): Revise or better enforce regulations to ensure regulations provide adequate safety standards and acceptable standards of evidence for verifying health claims related to NHPs.

Regulation

• Food Dyes: Urge Health Canada to revoke the approvals of food dyes for which evidence indicates they are possible human carcinogens (e.g., ammonia process caramel used in soft drinks) or exacerbate the symptoms of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder.
• Sodium Reduction in Processed Food: Reducing the amount of sodium added to food as proposed in the Government's election platform

Communication Techniques

• Written communication
• Oral communication
• Grass-roots communication

Government Institutions

• Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC)
• Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA)
• Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
• Competition Bureau Canada (COBU)
• Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
• Finance Canada (FIN)
• Health Canada (HC)
• House of Commons
• Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner (CIEC)
• Privy Council Office (PCO)
• Senate of Canada

Address:
PO Box 4880 Station E
Ottawa, ON  K1S 5J1
Canada

Telephone number: 613-565-2140

Parent Company Information

Centre for Health Science and Law / Centre pour les Sciences de la Santé et le Droit is not a subsidiary of any other parent companies.