By Greg Fry

Kamloops Senator pleased bill targeting junk food has entered the House of Commons

Oct 10, 2017 | 12:49 PM

KAMLOOPS — Conservative Senator Nancy Greene Raine is “very pleased” an issue she’s championed for years has finally been introduced into the House of Commons.

Bill S-228, the child health protection act, seeks to amend the Food and Drugs Act to prohibit the marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children. The bill unanimously passed the Senate earlier this month.

“The biggest concern I have is that when children become overweight and even obese, it really changes what they do with their life. It’s no longer fun for them to run around and play actively,” she says. “They (kids) become less confident. You see kids that go down that path and they don’t live up to their potential as human beings. So, to me it’s really good if we can protect them until they’re old enough and to give parents support in making decision as to what they eat.”

Does she think the bill will go anywhere now that it’s been introduced in the House of Commons?

“I’m pretty confident that it will because it was in the mandate letter of at least the last minister of health. The ministers changed recently. But I know that Health Canada is already working on a consultation period.”

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Greene Raine says companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars marketing junk food to kids “because it works.”

As for her own health, Greene Raine says she’s feeling “excellent” following treatment for thyroid cancer earlier this year.