If we look at the numbers according to Obesity Canada, a network of health care professionals, as many as 25% of all teens and 50% of all adults in Canada are overweight.
A staggering 10%-12% of adult Canadians are classified as obese, putting them at serious risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes, to name but a few of the threats they are exposed to.
The leading factors in the 'obesity epidemic' are a poor diet and inactive lifestyles.
Therefore, a New Year's resolution of the Harper government should be to get more Canadians off their couches and start exercising.
In 2007, the Tories already made a great step in the good direction with the introduction of the Children's Fitness Tax Credit, which allows parents to claim on their income tax a portion of the fees they pay to enroll their kids in sports.
The government really needs to expand the program now and include everyone over the age of 16.
Rewarding people for joining health clubs or signing up for recreational sports programs is a
simple, yet effective way to get more Canadians active in our increasingly sedentary society.
Over the years, governments leaned toward using the 'stick-approach' to improving our health, but shaming and hectoring people through nagging awareness campaigns, food labelling, tobacco-use restrictions and the like will only go so far.
Now it's time to start offering rewards to people for making healthy choices.
Allowing people to claim only a portion of activity fees on their taxes will be a safeguard against abusers simply buying a gym membership as a tax write-off and then never showing up, but it will still reward people genuinely trying to get healthier.
In the long run, all Canadians will benefit.
More people leading healthy lifestyles will ease pressure on our overburdened health care system.
Source: Winnipeg Sun
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