Are alcohol companies getting a ‘free pass’ when it comes to warning labels?
An Algonquin senator thinks they are.
Mark Blackburn | APTN News
January 24, 2025
Sen. Patrick Brazeau leans forward at a small meeting desk in his office in the East Block on Parliament Hill. He’s looking down at a brochure that is promoting his proposed law to affix warning labels on alcohol products in Canada.
In large type on the cover it says, “All alcoholic drinks cause cancer.” On the inside, information about several different types of cancers – and liver disease.
Brazeau, a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishnabeg and named to the senate by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2008, says his mission is fuelled, in part, by his own very public battle with alcohol addiction that nearly cost him his life. Now that he has a handle on conquering his demon, he wants other drinkers to get all the information available about consuming alcohol – including links to different kinds of cancers.
“Look, alcohol, booze has been accepted since the beginning of time,” he tells APTN News. “It’s widely seen as a celebratory fun party and all about socializing. Everything fun, fun. But for a lot of Canadians, it’s anything but fun fun, fun.”
Brazeau’s proposed law (S-254), introduced in 2022, calls for amending the Food and Drug Act to say there is a “direct causal link exists between alcohol consumption and the development of fatal cancers” and “in light of the serious public health risks posed by alcohol consumption, the public must have accurate and current health information in relation to alcohol consumption.”
Brazeau says a warning label is the best way to do that.
“If you would have told me this, 10 or 15 years ago, I would have probably laughed in your face,” he admits, “but … when I found myself to be in the category of the 75 [per cent] of Canadians who are not aware of the correlation between consumption [of alcohol] and cancer, well, I got a little bit angry inside.
“Sometimes you don’t need to believe things at the beginning,” Brazeau says. “Sometimes it could take, you know, weeks months years and eventually something clicks.”
Brazeau says his proposed bill was on its way to be studied by a senate committee in December. That ended when, on Jan. 6, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament – meaning any unfinished business would have to start from scratch.
“Well, obviously, that comes with the territory, comes with the business,” Brazeau says. “Just before the holidays, the senate committee that will be studying the bill, the Social Affairs Technology Committee, decided that my bill would be studied in February. As soon as Parliament does resume, from my understanding, my bill will be right back at the committee phase.”
He tells APTN he has broad support in the Senate to make it happen.
But he also needs the support of MPs in the House of Commons.
Brazeau says his office has asked each federal party where they stand on warning labels on alcohol products. Not one replied.
The issue of warning labels comes up periodically in the news.
It’s been in the headlines recently because U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced on Jan. 3 that, because alcohol is a leading cause of cancer there, the risk should be clearly marked on products people buy in America.
Murthy’s advisory comes as research and evidence mounts about the serious effects alcohol has on human health – and cancer, specifically.
“In the U.S., there are about 20,000 alcohol-related cancer deaths annually. This is greater than the number of alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities (about 13,500 annually) in the U.S.,” says Murthy’s advisory. “Despite clear evidence demonstrating the effect of alcohol consumption on cancer risk, there is a large gap in public understanding of the risk.”
Alcohol products in the U.S. already carry a warning label stating drinking during pregnancy may cause birth defects, impair a person’s ability to drive or operate machinery, and “may cause health problems.” No such thing in Canada.
In Canada, the federal government has so far resisted the push to follow in America’s footsteps with warning labels on beer and alcohol, despite being a world leader in attaching graphic warning labels to cigarette products and – in some cases – individual cigarettes. Cigarettes are also hidden behind closed doors or curtains in retail outlets.
When APTN asked Health Canada about the issue, spokesperson Mark Johnson reveals the agency is “carefully examining” the alcohol warning label issue.
“Alcohol products are required to carry certain labelling information, such as the common name and net quantity,” Johnson says in a statement. “As indicated earlier, Health Canada is aware that some countries are introducing alcohol warning labels to provide health and other information at the point of sale. Health Canada is closely examining this work.
“Addressing alcohol-related harms is a shared responsibility between all levels of government,” Johnson adds. “The Government of Canada continues to collaborate closely with provinces and territories and key stakeholders to reduce the harms associated with alcohol use.”
Johnson referred APTN to Health Canada’s website where a connection between cancer and alcohol is made.
“Importantly, the latest edition of Canada’s Food Guide identifies a link between alcohol use and various forms of cancer including liver, breast, throat and stomach cancer,” Johnson’s email pointed out. “Canada’s Food Guide is one of Health Canada’s top downloaded public education tools.”
The post on Canada’s Food Guide is crystal clear.
It outlines how drinking alcohol could lead to liver disease and many types of cancers including liver, mouth, esophageal, pharynx (throat), larynx (voice box), breast, after menopause, colorectal (bowel and colon), hypertension (high blood pressure).
But that’s as far as Health Canada goes.
APTN went back to Health Canada again to request an interview.
“We aren’t providing interviews on the alcohol guidelines,” said Johnson.
Brazeau says he ran into the same thing after his bill was introduced in a meeting with former minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett in April 2023.
“In about the 40-minute meeting, and herself being a former family physician, she never asked me one question about my labeling bill. Not one question,” Brazeau says, “which was a little bit surprising to me given the fact that she was a minister of mental health and addictions. That was the primary focus of my meeting. Me wanting to meet with her in trying to get, not only her support, but the support of the government of the day into looking at alcohol labelling.”
“The only comment that I got at that time, was that Canadians should revisit or consider their relationship with alcohol. Which ironically, was taken exactly from a letter that former minister Bennett had received from the alcohol industry.”
Health Canada may not be doing interviews, but it’s likely keeping a close eye on a proposed class-action lawsuit in Quebec against three beer companies: Labatt’s, Sleemans and Molson Coors.
There is also a similar, but separate proposed class-action against the Société des alcools du Québec, more commonly known as SAQ, the provincial-run liquor and wine store.
“We think that because people bought these products without having knowledge of the risks for health and the risks of developing cancer or cirrhosis, they should be reimbursed for the products that they bought,” said Philippe Brault from the Lambert Avocats law firm. “We also think that people should be eligible for punitive damages.
“A lot of people don’t know that alcohol is linked to the development of many cancers.”
The statement of claim, which was filed in 2023 but has not yet been authorized by the courts, points to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which “declared alcohol to be a Class 1 carcinogen – the group with the highest cancer risk – along with asbestos, tobacco and radiation.”
The lead plaintiff in the proposed class-action is a 64-year-old female, according to the court document, who began drinking when she was 18. The claim says that when she started consuming alcohol, “she was unaware of the risks associated with alcohol consumption.”
As the years went by, her alcohol consumption increased and she alleges she was “unaware that she had developed an alcohol dependency.”
“The plaintiff has always purchased and consumed almost exclusively beers manufactured, marketed and distributed by the defendants in grocery stores, including bottles of Molson Dry,” the claim says. “As a result of her alcohol dependence, the plaintiff developed several symptoms, including loss of appetite, sleep disturbances and a lump in her right breast.
“In 2009, the plaintiff was subsequently diagnosed with stage 1 right breast cancer.”
According to the claim, the tumor was malignant and she underwent chemotherapy, “resulting in hair loss and chronic fatigue.”
The claim notes that between 2019 and 2021, the woman continued to drink – consuming “between six (6) and ten (10) beers a day,” and in 2021 she “suffered a recurrence of her breast cancer.”
“For the duration of her alcohol consumption, the plaintiff was always unaware of the dangers of alcohol consumption, especially with regard to the risk developing certain cancers,” the claim says. “If the plaintiff had known the health risks of alcohol consumption, she would have decided not to consume or would have consumed differently in the past, both in terms of frequency and quantity.”
The claim outlines that she “was never warned by the defendants of the health risks of alcohol consumption,” and, “would have liked to know the dangers of alcohol on health, especially as regards the risk of developing breast cancer in women.”
The lawyer says companies and the province have a legal obligation to warn people of the dangers.
“Under consumer law in Quebec, whenever a product presents the risk for health, or for your life, or an important danger for your health, or your life, it has to be announced on the product that you’re selling and we’re claiming that the SAQ and the brewers are not respecting their obligation under the consumer protection act,” says Brault in the interview.
A hearing for the proposed class-action against the SAQ is expected to take place this summer, Brault adds.
There’s no update on the claim against Molson Coors, Sleemans and Labatt’s.
Meanwhile, a study funded by Health Canada and released in March 2023 by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, shows that substance use [SU] – mainly alcohol, tobacco, cocaine and opioids – cost the Canadian economy $49 billion in 2020.
Of that amount, alcohol accounted for 40 per cent of the cost – or $19 billion – more than tobacco, opioids and cocaine, according to the report.
The report notes that of the “nearly 74,000 SU-attributable deaths [that] occurred in 2020” a total of 17,098 or 23 per cent, were from alcohol.
The report says in the criminal justice system, SU cost $10 billion and alcohol accounted for “the greatest costs … at nearly $4.0 billion or 39.8% of all criminal justice costs.” Cocaine was second and opioid use was third.
According to the report, violent crime accounted for nearly half of “all criminal justice costs attributable to alcohol.”
“Our findings suggest that prioritizing policies aimed at reducing the harms of alcohol use may lead to the most widespread reduction in the harms and economic burden of SU in Canada,” the authors of the report say, adding that costs associated with alcohol use have jumped 21 per cent in the past 14 years.
“Costs of alcohol use have continued to rise alongside deregulatory policies and availability, a trend that escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
These new facts and numbers aren’t lost on some politicians. Like former Winnipeg NDP-MP Judy Wasylicia-Leis.
“With the Surgeon General calling for more labels, of course, that drove me right back to 2000 when I started the battle that had been going on for a while over [alcohol warning] labels,” Wasylicia-Leis tells APTN. “Just in terms of FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) … the Liberals never learn.”
At the turn of the century, Wasylicia-Leis lobbied MPs and summoned cabinet ministers to committees to push the warning label issue.
“I put out tons and tons of newsletters, worked with the lobby groups, constantly kept in close touch,” she says. “We started petitions, we did media, we did whatever. Then, one by one, I went to each of the ministers.
“My longest exchange was with [former federal Liberal Health minister] Anne McLellan in 2003. Writing her, having her at committee, grilling her and got nothing. Almost a statement saying they would never do labels.
‘We prefer to put our money and efforts into programs’ she told me.
“It’s an absolute blockage there.”
It seems the message from government hasn’t changed in more than 20 years. According to Johnson at Health Canada, the government is favouring programs that teach people to drink responsibly.
He says the government funds projects to address alcohol use disorder, conducts monitoring and surveillance through surveys, supports the development of “guidance materials,” works with the provinces and territories, Indigenous communities, and key stakeholder groups “to support healthy pregnancies and raise awareness about Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder” and funds alcohol research to inform policies and interventions.
“Addressing alcohol-related harms is a shared responsibility between all levels of government,” Johnson says.
“The Government of Canada continues to collaborate closely with provinces and territories and key stakeholders to reduce the harms associated with alcohol use.”
But both Brazeau and Wasylia-Leis point to lobbying from the alcohol industry.
A quick check of the Registry of Lobbyists, a database of companies that reach out to federal politicians and bureaucrats to represent the interests of companies in Canada, shows activity on warning labels.
In a number of instances, the database lists the lobbying interest as “Warning Labels on beer packaging – seek to have government do a more fulsome review of the information provided by outside agencies which suggest that beer causes cancer,” and ask “government to review Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse (CCSA) recommendations to LRDG [Low Risk Drinking Guidelines] to include information provided by beverage alcohol industry from international organizations challenging the CCSA findings,” and “Push Health Canada to initiate a peer review of the submission on low risk drinking guidelines by the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).”
APTN reached out to Sleemans to discuss warning labels and received a statement instead.
“Health Canada’s Ministerial Communication Directorate confirmed that: The federal government has been carefully examining the use of health warning labels on alcohol. Canada’s 2011 Low-Risk Alcohol Drinking Guidelines remain the Government of Canada’s sole guidance on alcohol consumption,” says a statement from the company.
“For media inquiries or further questions related to this matter, we recommend contacting Beer Canada, as they are best positioned to provide comprehensive information and insights.”
Beer Canada did not respond to APTN’s requests for comment.
When asked about the proposed class-action against Sleemans in Quebec, APTN was told, “We won’t be commenting further at this time.”
APTN also reached out to Molson Coors, Labatt’s, Spirits Canada and didn’t hear back. Spirits Canada said a spokesperson would contact APTN – but that didn’t happen. The SAQ said it wouldn’t comment.
In 2023, Canada exported $1.5 billion worth of alcohol to the U.S., according to website Trading Economics.
All products entering the U.S. must carry a label that outlines drinking alcohol while pregnant could cause birth defects, can impair driving and operating machinery and that it can cause health problems.
If the U.S. Surgeon General gets his way, a warning about cancer may soon be added to that list.
The battle over warning labels dates back to the 1990s when it was debated in the House of Commons and in Parliamentary committees?
In 1997, former Liberal MP Paul Szabo introduced a private members’ bill to introduce warning labels on the dangers of alcohol consumption. The bill died when then prime minister Jean Chretien called a federal election.
Then in 2007, Szabo tried again, but his appeal died when another election was called.
So, are proposed laws to affix warning labels on alcohol containers cursed?
“Well, it does seem that way,” Brazeau says. “The question remains – why is it we have tobacco is legal, smoking is legal, cannabis and marijuana is legal. We have warnings on their products. Why do alcohol companies get a free pass?
“We haven’t found a cure for cancer,” he adds, “but if you take away preventable means such as alcohol [and] tobacco, well, people could be on their way to healthier lives both physically and mentally.”
Along with his proposed law, Brazeau also has another bill on the floor of the senate that aims to prohibit “the promotion of alcoholic beverages.”
On Feb. 4, which is World Cancer Day, he’s holding a symposium to talk about the issue.
