Dr. David Butler-Jones, former medical officer of health in Simcoe County in
Ontario, and former chief medical officer for the province of Saskatchewan,
has been appointed by the Prime Minister of Canada to be 'doctor for the
nation' as the first Canadian Chief Medical Officer of Health.

As noted in the following Globe and Mail article:
"Canada does not do enough to prevent its citizens from getting sick. 'We've
become so preoccupied with the [health] insurance system that we've
forgotten prevention,' Dr. Butler-Jones said".
He went on to comment:
"Why can't Canadians be the healthiest people in the world?" he asked...
"One of the biggest issues is, how do you have healthier choices be easy
choices? I mean, you can take a couch potato and beat him over the head
about being a marathoner, and they're not going to do much."

Education isn't enough to make Canadians healthy, he added, citing tobacco
control as a good example of how government regulations can reduce illness.

"I'm not sure what we can do about this, but I mean, with alcohol, if you
want to buy a beer in Toronto and you want to buy it in Kapuskasing, it's
the same price. But milk is maybe two or three times the price," he said."In
schools, if chips are half the price of an apple, what are the choices? And
what encourages the choices?"

see the full story at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040925/HEAL
TH25/TPHealth/
[if you have difficulty accessing this article, you may need to register -
it is free]


Alison Stirling
co-facilitator, CLICK4HP health promotion listserv
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