Bill S-202
Opening Remarks by Ian Culbert, Executive Director, Canadian Public Health Association, to the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology regarding Bill S-202 – An Act to amend the Food and Drugs Act (warning labels on alcoholic beverages)
Wednesday 22 October 2025
Thank you, Madam Chair and honourable Senators, for the opportunity to appear before you today.
The Canadian Public Health Association strongly supports Bill S-202 because Canadians have a right to know the health risks associated with the products they consume. This bill would ensure that alcoholic beverages—like other substances known to harm health—carry clear, factual, and visible warning labels about their contents and the health risks linked to consumption.
Alcohol is not an ordinary commodity. It is a leading cause of preventable disease and premature death in Canada, responsible for several types of cancer, heart disease, liver cirrhosis, and injuries. Yet it remains the most widely used harmful substance in this country.
In January 2023, the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health. It summarizes decades of scientific evidence and concludes that no level of alcohol use is risk-free. To minimize health risks, Canadians should limit their consumption to no more than two standard drinks per week.
But most people don’t know what a “standard drink” is—or how many they are consuming—because this basic information is not available on product labels. Without it, consumers cannot make informed choices.
This stands in stark contrast to any other food or drink Canadians buy at the grocery story. Every packaged food product in Canada must include a Nutrition Facts table outlining serving size, calories, fat, sugar, and other nutrients. Many will soon be required to display front-of-package symbols for products high in sodium, sugars, or saturated fats. Alcoholic beverages, however, are exempt from these basic consumer protections—solely because they are alcoholic in nature.
That exemption is indefensible. It reflects not sound science, but the influence of powerful commercial interests. The corporate determinants of health are very much at play here: industries that profit from consumption have a vested interest in keeping the public uninformed about the risks their products pose.
A 2017 pilot project in Yukon – entitled the Northern Territories Alcohol Labels Study – demonstrated how effective labelling can be. Within weeks of introducing labels that included a cancer warning, standard drink information, and Canada’s then low-risk drinking guidelines, alcohol sales declined and public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer tripled. Yet, despite these early successes, the study was curtailed after alcohol industry associations sent legal threats to the Yukon government, forcing the removal of the cancer warning. The study’s premature end had nothing to do with science or ethics—it was the result of corporate interference.
This episode illustrates clearly how the corporate determinants of health can undermine evidence-based public health policy. It shows that the alcohol industry is determined to keep Canadians drinking in a state of ignorance. And that is not a goal that our laws should enable.
We know from decades of experience with tobacco and cannabis that clear, factual, visible labels change behaviour. They increase awareness, shift social norms, and ultimately save lives.
This is not about restricting choice; it is about ensuring informed consent. Everyone in Canada deserves the same access to health information on an alcoholic beverage as they do on a carton of milk or a box of cereal.
By adopting Bill S-202, Parliament would close a glaring gap in consumer protection, empower individuals to make healthier decisions, and help reduce the significant burden of alcohol-related disease and cost to our health and social systems.
There is no defensible reason to continue denying Canadians this vital information. Clear labelling is simple, fair, and long overdue.
Thank you, and I welcome your questions.