Bill 175 explained in plain English
Consumer Protection Amendment Act (Protecting Children from Targeted Advertising of Unhealthy Food and Drink), 2011
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill amends the Consumer Protection Act to prohibit advertising unhealthy food and drink to children under 13 years of age and establishes penalties for non-compliance.
Bill 175, the Consumer Protection Amendment Act (Protecting Children from Targeted Advertising of Unhealthy Food and Drink), 2011, proposes to amend the Consumer Protection Act, 2002. The main purpose of the bill is to prohibit the advertising of unhealthy food and drink that is directed at children under 13 years of age. The bill outlines factors to consider when determining if advertising is directed at this age group and allows for regulations to define what constitutes unhealthy food and drink. It also gives the Director the power to order a person to stop advertising unhealthy food or drink to children under 13 if a complaint is investigated and a contravention is believed to have occurred. Failing to comply with such an order would be an offense.
- Prohibits commercial advertising of unhealthy food and drink directed at persons under 13 years of age.
- Defines 'unhealthy food or drink' as food or drink prescribed by regulation as unhealthy.
- Specifies criteria to determine if advertising is directed at persons under 13 years of age, including the context of presentation, nature of goods, manner of advertising, and time/place it is shown.
- Allows the Director to order a person to cease advertising unhealthy food or drink to children under 13 if reasonable grounds exist after investigating a complaint.
- Specifies that failure to comply with the prohibition of advertising unhealthy food or drink to children under 13 is an offense.
- Enables the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations prescribing what constitutes unhealthy food or drink, considering nutritional guidelines and the nutritional content of the food/drink.
- States that the bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Businesses that advertise food and drink.
- Children under 13 years of age.
- The Director appointed under the Consumer Protection Act.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council (for making regulations).
- No person shall make use of commercial advertising for unhealthy food or drink that is directed at persons under 13 years of age.
- The Director has the power to order a person to cease advertising if contravention of the prohibition is believed to have occurred.
- The Lieutenant Governor in Council has the power to make regulations prescribing what food or drink is considered unhealthy.
- This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- A person is guilty of an offense if they fail to comply with the prohibition of commercial advertising of unhealthy food or drink directed at persons under 13 years of age.
- A person is guilty of an offense if they fail to comply with an order from the Director to cease advertising.
- The definition of 'unhealthy food or drink' is dependent on regulations that may be prescribed.
- The determination of whether advertising is 'directed at persons under 13 years of age' is subject to 'any limitations that are prescribed' and consideration of various factors.
- The text does not specify the exact penalties for offenses, only that failure to comply with the prohibition or a Director's order constitutes an offense.
Adds a new Part (Part III.1) to prohibit advertising unhealthy food and drink to children under 13 and allows the Director to issue cease advertising orders. It also amends section 123 to allow for regulations regarding unhealthy food and drink.
Source: Section 1, Section 2, Section 4
Adds a reference to the new Part III.1 (Advertising Food or Drink) and section 19.2 of the Act, relating to the prohibition of advertising food or drink.
Source: Section 3
Adds subsections that allow the Lieutenant Governor in Council to make regulations prescribing food or drink as unhealthy for the purpose of advertising restrictions, and outlines factors to consider when making these regulations.
Source: Section 4
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
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Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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