Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas celebrates calorie bill becoming law

In 2008, Nickel Belt New Democrat MPP France Gelinas put forward a private members bill, calling on Ontario restaurants to post how many calories were in each meal they were serving.

Now, in 2017, that bill has been passed and is law in Ontario.

"It's the result of a ton of work," Gelinas said.

The bill was first debated in 2009 and passed second reading at that time.

"I will always remember ... the visitors gallery was full of people from the food and beverage industry," she said.

"They were lobbying against me. They were all looking at me while I talked and if looks could kill, I would not be there today."

However, it didn't move further at that time. In fact, Gelinas said she reintroduced it seven times before it passed.

The bill did eventually pass and on Jan. 1, restaurants started showing calories on menus.

"It's really to give people more choice about what they eat with the view that if they have more information, they will make healthier choices," she said. "Right now, over 30 per cent, close to one in three kids in Ontario is overweight or obese."

Gelinas said it's already having an impact.

"You can see some of the restaurants have changed their preparation," she said. "So they source different ingredients to make the same food so that it's not as heavy in calories."

Gelinas said she's been tracking food at various restaurants since she put forward the bill in 2008.

She told CBC News, as an example, that a tuna sandwich from Subway used to have 1,900 calories — now, she said, it has 1,200 calories.