Motion calling on Quebec to legislate a requirement for chain restaurants to provide better nutritional information

Motion asking the Quebec government to legislate to require fast-food chains to provide clear nutrition information visible and easily understandable on their menus and billboards at the counter and serving the automobile.

Whereas access to a simple and easily understandable nutrition information enables consumers to make healthier choices for their health;

Whereas 22 states and hundreds of cities in the United States have, over recent decades, legislated so as to force chain restaurants to provide nutrition information on their menus and billboards that are visible for consumers when they order their meals;

Whereas many of these states and cities require chain restaurants to display information on the calorie content of meals on their menu and some even require the display of accurate information about the calorie and sodium content ;

Whereas the Affordable Care Act in the United States, entered into force in 2010, requires all chain restaurants in the US broadcast a clear nutritional information, the obligation to take effect following publication of guidelines on the Nutrition labeling by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA);

Whereas the FDA produced these Guidelines in November 2014, which defined the restaurants chains fall under its regulatory and forced them to provide the calorie content of their meals on their menus and billboards at the counter service to the automobile in November 2015, with the obligation for all restaurant chains confirm it by November, 2016;

Whereas the fast food industry in the US has indicated an openness to the implementation of these new requirements, in particular because a uniform national labeling eliminates the myriad of local regulations that have in the past fl sources confusion and difficulties for the public and ultimately costly for large companies and for small franchise owners;
Whereas the FDA rules can already be consulted on its website, in particular from the following links:

http://www.fda.gov/…/GuidanceDocumentsRegulat…/ucm437403.htm
http://www.fda.gov/…/Ingred…/LabelingNutrition/ucm248732.htm
http://www.fda.gov/…/Ingred…/LabelingNutrition/ucm248732.htm;

Whereas the Province of Ontario was inspired by FDA guidelines and tabled Bill 45 entitled An Act to improve public health ed by the enactment of the 2014 Act for healthy choices in menus and Law 2014 on electronic cigarettes and change in Ontario Act smoke which can be found at:

http://www.ontla.on.ca/…/bi…/41_Parliament/Session1/b045.pdf

Whereas this bill is now in its third and final reading and it would require restaurant chains in Ontario the same requirements as those in the United States;

Whereas the Council of Chain Restaurants Quebec and Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices have implemented a program called Info-Resto, Quebec, and another named Informed Dining in the rest of Canada, which oblige their members to make available brochures providing detailed nutritional information in their institutions and online;

Whereas this program is little known, requires consumers to make information searches in advance and does not provide easily accessible information to consumers standing in line who often have to make a quick and spontaneous order;
Whereas the scientific and medical research shows that access to quality nutrition information, particularly regarding the content of calories and sodium, can lead to better eating habits and curb ob Esite and various diseases who are associated;

It is proposed by Marvin Rotrand

Supported by Monique Vallee, Justine McIntyre, Domenico Moschella, Elsie Lefebvre, Jeremy Searle, Claude Dauphin and Manon Barbe

That Council supports the principles that support the new national standards that will soon be applied in the United States and Bill 45 in Ontario, according to which better nutritional information can be easily provided by the restaurants in their menus and their billboards and may also positively influence consumer behavior by encouraging them to make healthy choices;

That Council ask the Quebec government to build on the laws in the United States and Ontario to legislate to impose similar constraints to chain restaurants in the province by forcing them to provide better nutritional information their customers.