NEWS RELEASE
June 20, 2006
HELPING ONTARIO FAMILIES BECOME HEALTHIER
McGuinty Government Launches Action Plan For
Healthy Eating And Active Living
TORONTO — Ontario is setting a strong foundation for healthier families with a comprehensive action plan to promote healthy eating and active living across this province, Health Promotion Minister Jim Watson announced today.
“For the first time in Ontario’s history, we are combining healthy eating and active living as a means of improving people’s health,” Watson said. “Good health is a shared responsibility and I call on our partners to join us in taking action towards building a healthier Ontario.”
Ontario’s Action Plan for Healthy Eating and Active Living responds to key findings in the November 2004 report by Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health entitled Healthy Weights, Healthy Lives. The report called for a broad, province-wide effort across sectors and communities to combat obesity.
The action plan offers new programs and strategies and builds on existing ones to support healthy eating and active living in Ontario. Programs under the $10 million Action Plan this year include:
- A pilot project which will provide fruits and vegetables to children in schools in Northern Ontario, with an emphasis on Ontario-grown produce.
- A Healthy School Recognition Program that will recognize schools for their efforts to promote healthy eating and physical activity, encourage them to keep up the good work and serve as a role model for others.
- A web and phone-based dietitian advisory service to provide families and health care providers with timely and reliable nutrition information.
“By being more physically active and maintaining a healthier body weight, individuals can reduce the risks of heart disease, prevent some types of cancer, and other illnesses," said Dr. Sheela Basrur, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health. "Unhealthy eating habits and physical inactivity have created an epidemic of preventable diseases, shortening the lives of many Ontarians. This action plan can help shift this tide and create a healthier province."
"All of us – governments, organizations and individuals – have a role to play in creating the conditions that encourage physical activity and healthy eating," said Rocco Rossi, CEO, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. "We have long advocated for a plan like this, which sets the stage for working together to collectively improve the health of people in Ontario."
The action plan also reflects feedback received by Minister Watson and Parliamentary Assistant Peter Fonseca during 11 community roundtable sessions held earlier this year. More than one thousand individuals and organizations across the province shared their views on ways to bring healthy eating and active living to Ontario.
“It is time to take action on obesity and physical inactivity now,” said Watson. “As a first step, I encourage the federal government to revive the ParticipACTION program, which successfully challenged Canadians to get physically active in the 70s, 80s and 90s. I will be pressing the federal government to reinvest in this program when I meet with the federal, provincial and territorial ministers of sport and recreation in Ottawa tomorrow.”
This is just the latest example of how the McGuinty government is working to increase sport participation and physical activity throughout Ontario. Other initiatives include:
- ACTIVE2010 is a comprehensive strategy to increase participation in sport and physical activity throughout Ontario. Its goal is to achieve higher physical activity rates and increased sport participation in order to improve the quality of life in the province.
- Places to Grow - The focus of the Places To Grow plan is the creation of complete communities, with a greater mix of businesses, services, housing and parks that will make them more livable.
- Communities In Action Fund - A third year investment of $5 million for the Communities In Action Fund which invests in community sport and physical activity and helps remove barriers to participation for children and youth, low-income families, aboriginal people, older adults, women and girls, visible/ethnic minorities and people with disabilities.
“The McGuinty government’s Healthy Eating and Active Living Plan is a significant step forward in our attempts to improve the well-being of citizens throughout our province," said Dr. David Bach, President of the Ontario Medical Association. "Obesity has become a serious threat to the health of Ontarians, as highlighted in the OMA’s position paper An Ounce of Prevention or a Ton of Trouble. That is why governments, communities and the private sector must work together to ensure that families have the tools to make the right decisions about nutrition and adequate physical activity."
The Ministry of Health Promotion was created in June 2005 to focus on improving the health of Ontarians by promoting healthy living and wellness and chronic disease prevention.
For more information on healthy eating and active living in Ontario, visit www.mhp.gov.on.ca or www.healthyontario.com.
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For further information:
Rui Manuel Estevão
Minister’s Office
416-326-8497
Julie Rosenberg
Ministry of Health Promotion
416-326-4833
