Nova Scotia’s top doc against Molson oval
Posted Nov 25, 2011 04:54:52 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The province’s top doctor is encouraging regional councillors not to revisit Molson Coors’ sponsorship bid for the Halifax skating oval, saying that would support a “culture of alcoholism.”
Nova Scotia’s chief public health officer, Dr. Robert Strang, wrote an opinion piece for the Chronicle Herald this week and emailed it to regional councillors ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, urging them not to give naming rights to Molson Coors.
“It’s better for the health of not just people in Halifax but across the province if you we don’t have a large prominence of alcohol industry in public places,” Strang told the Rick Howe Show.
Strang contends the province is saturated by alcohol advertisements and marketing, which he said creates and supports social norms about the use of alcohol in our communities.
“If we’re going to make a difference in addressing some of the substantial problems we have, with early onset of alcohol use by youth, we need to do things very differently,” he said. “A key piece of that is how we allow alcohol to be marketed by the alcohol industry.”
Molson offered the city $400,000 in sponsorship money for the oval, but the bid was turned down, in part because of concerns about the optics of putting a beer company’s name on a public sports facility.
Emera, the parent company of Nova Scotia Power, offered $500,000 in sponsorship.
Beer companies already sponsor major public events and teams in Halifax, such as the Alexander Keith’s Natal Day celebrations and the Mooseheads hockey team. Callers to News 95.7 said they had no problem with another major corporate sponsorship.
“There’s nothing wrong with Molson or Olands or whoever wants to put their name on it, as long as the money is there,” said Murray. “No problem at all. That’s better than Emera in there because Emera could give them all the money they want and then just crank the power bills up and get all the money back.”
But a few callers say sports facilities should be have sponsors whose products are not related to health concerns.
“Don’t be hypocritical here,” said Tony. “If it was a tobacco company which came along and offered $400,000 for the oval, would they take it?”
Council may revisit Molson’s sponsorship offer if a two-thirds majority agrees to put it back on the agenda.
