Our Goals

Bill C-47 is a Budget Bill officially named: “Budget Implementation Act, 2023, No. 1”. Sections 500-504 of this Bill redefine natural health products (NHPs) and subject the entire industry to heightened regulation by moving them fully into the “therapeutic products” category, alongside chemical drugs.

On Friday, June 23^, 2023, Bill C-47 passed third reading in the Senate, received royal assent the same day, and is now law. This Budget Bill contained several sections that will significantly limit the availability of natural health products in Canada.

Health Canada’s recent initiatives are on track to seriously dismantle the natural health landscape in Canada. These initiatives encompass the introduction of hefty fees, stringent demands for evidence not appropriate for NHPs, restrictions on labelling and the dissemination of truthful product information, and the inappropriate application of Vanessa’s Law to NHPs.

The implications of these actions are dire: NHP manufacturers and distributors facing closure, natural health stores unable to compete with U.S. price points, healthcare practitioners limited in their tools to practice due to fewer products on the Canadian market, and consumers facing reduced NHP access, hiked prices, and restriction in their freedom of choice in healthcare.

How NHPPA Is Pushing Back Against Sections 500-504 of Bill C-47

In late 2023, NHPPA President Shawn Buckley drafted a Private Members Bill to repeal sections 500-504 of Bill C-47. After consultation with Mr. Buckley, MP Blaine Calkins brought a Private Member’s Bill for the same purpose to the House of Commons on December 5, 2023. The Bill passed first reading and now named Bill C-368.

This action by MP Calkins effectively amplifies our voices, champions the cause for the natural health industry, and acts in the interests of every Canadian citizen who relies on natural health products to care for their health and well-being.

Health Canada has made it clear that once natural health products are regulated in the same ways as chemical non-prescription drugs under the Self-Care Framework, that natural health product companies will be charged fees for licensing (i.e. there will be “cost recovery”).

Shawn Buckley’s discussion paper from 2019 detailed what natural health product companies would have to pay once the Self-Care Framework is implemented. These are the fees Health Canada is moving toward implementing now.

What is Health Canada’s proposed “Self-Care Framework” and why does it matter to Canadians?

As outlined in an NHPPA Discussion Paper on 2023 Health Canada Initiatives, with the upcoming changes to the regulation of natural health products, we can expect the following:

• The Natural Health Product Regulations will be phased out and replaced;
• Natural health products will be regulated under the same regulations as over-the-counter chemical drugs;
• The draconian enforcement powers the government promised would not be applied to natural health products when Vanessa’s Law was passed, including the $5,000,000 fines, will be applied to natural health products (this has now been implemented with the passing of Bill C-47 on June 22, 2023);
• The health conditions natural health products can be used for will be further limited;
• Censorship of truthful information about natural health products will be increased;

In Canada, we regulate natural health products (NHPs) under the “drug” arm of the Food and Drugs Act. This continues to lead to more and more restriction to Canadians’ access to NHPs.

We need the food-based model the U.S. has where NHPs are:

• Classed as foods;
• Deemed by law to be safe, and
• Which cannot be removed from the market by the government without evidence the product is a risk.

The Charter of Health Freedom is proposed legislation that gives natural health products and Traditional Medicines their own Act.

The Charter of Health Freedom offers an appropriate, healthy, beneficial, safe and well-rooted change for regulating the natural health community.  Canadians are protected by permitting unsafe products to be removed while at the same time ensuring that safe and effective treatments remain available.

The Charter protects our access to natural health products and Traditional Medicines by creating separate legal category for them. Rather than being deemed as dangerous drugs under the Food and Drugs Act as they are now, under the Charter natural health products and Traditional Medicines are deemed to be safe, as they are in the United States.

To be clear, the NHPPA is not against reasonable Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) or laws that prevent fraud and adulteration, in order to ensure the highest quality natural health products are on Canadian shelves.

The NHPPA is against the recent (2004) imposition of the chemical drug model on natural health products (NHPs). Under the chemical drug model, all natural health products are deemed to be unsafe and illegal. None can be sold without getting Health Canada’s permission in the form of a licence. Accepting the imposition of this drug model on natural health products has led to ever-stricter regulation and is behind the crisis the industry is currently facing.