All indications are that Éric Duhaime’s Conservatives will block the adoption of a bill to ban energy drinks for those under 16. Their political opponents are calling them heartless.
The upcoming tabling of a bill on energy drinks provoked a strong reaction in the National Assembly on Thursday.
Rimouski independent MNA Maïté Blanchette Vézina — who is now associated with the Conservative Party — said she suspected the CAQ government of acting in the matter out of pure opportunism.
“The government could have tabled this bill three years ago. Now, it has decided to do so for populist reasons, to make political gains, to use the death of a child to boost its poll numbers.”
“I apologize, but I think it’s healthy to resist that kind of populism, and then to take the time,” she said at a press conference.
For the past few months, a vast social movement has embraced the cause of the parents of Zachary Miron, the young man who died at the age of 15 after drinking a can of Red Bull that interacted with his ADHD medication.
A petition calling for a ban on energy drinks for minors, signed by more than 30,000 people, was recently tabled in the National Assembly by MNA Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, of Québec solidaire (QS).
“My mother and other people take medications that interact with grapefruit. It can cause deaths, it can interact with medications. Are we going to ban grapefruit? No,” said Blanchette Vézina on Thursday.
“Disgraceful,” reacted Health Minister Sonia Bélanger immediately. “I think it’s a question of dogmatism, of the values they hold. (…) Grapefruits and the effect of energy drinks on young people have nothing to do with each other.”
“This is a way of acting by the Conservatives and Mr. Duhaime that I would describe as heartless. I invite him to go and sit down for five minutes with Zachary’s parents. I swear to you he will change his mind immediately,” said QS spokesperson Ruba Ghazal.
“So, I invite Éric Duhaime to reconnect with his heart, to think about young people, and then to adopt it,” she insisted.
If the government introduces its bill on Friday, it will need the support of all members of the National Assembly to bypass the rules and fast-track its passage. The Liberal Party and the Parti Québécois have already expressed their support for the initiative.
The parliamentary session ends on June 12.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
