The Editor,
Re. “Sugary drinks tax could make a difference” (Opinion, The Tri-City News, Jan. 26).
All Canadians would agree that the health and well-being of our children is important.
This is not lost on the beverage industry, which is why we have been working to reduce the number of calories Canadians consume from our products through our Balance Calories Initiative, which is aiming to reduce beverage calories consumed per capita nationally by 20% between 2015 and ’25.
The initiative is implementing new ways to reduce the calories within their beverage portfolios. This includes actions like changing the recipes to remove sugar and introducing smaller portion sizes.
In December, the Conference Board of Canada released its Balance Calories Tracking Report 2017, which shows a 10.2% reduction in calories from sugar consumed by Canadians from non-alcoholic/non-dairy beverages in the first two years of the project. In total since 2004, there has been an at least 30% reduction in calories.
This reduction is supported corroborated by the federal government’s own “Canadian Community Health Survey 2016 — Balance Calories” is working.
Canadians knows that complex health issues like obesity cannot simply be solved with a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages. Such a tax has been tried in other jurisdictions and has failed to achieve the intended health outcomes.
Most recently in Philadelphia, according to a recently published Oxford Economics Study, the implementation of a beverage tax has resulted in the loss of 1,192 jobs, $80 million in lost GDP, $54 million in lost labour income and $4.5 million in lost local tax revenue.
The Canadian Beverage Association believes decisions that affect the health of Canadians need to be informed by sound science and research from industry, public health, the government. We know we have a role to play in the health of Canadians and we are actively implementing evidence based solutions through the Balance
Calorie Initiative to innovate and support better health outcomes for all Canadians.
Jim Goetz, President, Canadian Beverage Ass’n.
