Interesting article in the G & M on the costs and purported value of re-vitalizing Participaction, Canada's former "eat right and exercise" program. The bureaucrats get it. As usual, the politicians don't or won't. ------------ Alarm sounds over cost of fitness plan space by GLORIA GALLOWAY Friday, September 29, 2006 – Page A1 OTTAWA -- Federal bureaucrats say a Conservative plan to breathe new life into Participaction -- the fitness-awareness campaign killed five years ago by the previous Liberal government -- is a waste of millions of tax dollars on what amounts to a sole-sourced contract. When the program that was established in 1971 with federal financial support died in 2001, the annual budget for it was $350,000. Under a proposal obtained by The Globe and Mail that was prepared in July by the private non-profit board holding the rights to the Participaction logo, $446,000 would be required from federal coffers to pay for the initial two-month start-up period. By the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the initiative would need a $5.445-million contribution from Ottawa toward a proposed $24-million budget. The rest of the money would come from the private sector, foundations, provinces and territories, and gifts in kind. "We have a serious, significant, long-term challenge facing the country in rising obesity and lack of physical activity. Our view is that we, as a government, have to tackle this challenge," said Michael Chong, the Minister for Amateur Sport who, along with Health Minister Tony Clement, has been advocating for Participaction's return. "We're looking at ways to make Canadians aware, through a public-awareness campaign, of the need for greater physical fitness, the need to live active, healthy lifestyles. So one of the ways that we're looking at delivering this message to Canadians is through the revitalization of Participaction... What I can tell you is that whatever we decide to do must be based on two criteria. One is that we want to ensure value for money and secondly that the program delivers results. And that's the only way that we're going to proceed." ... The new proposal envisions a massive public-relations campaign, supported by a state-of-the art website, aimed at persuading Canadians to get active. But it also has caused eyebrows to rise in the Health Department, where officials question both the cost and the effectiveness of the concept... Of concern to Health Canada officials is the desire by politicians to put money into Participaction, which is basically defunct, rather than the myriad of non-governmental agencies that are still promoting fitness. "I am still very uncomfortable with the way we are being influenced by the minister's office and the discussions around funding the start-up of an organization when many others, who actually have programs, already exist," one Health bureaucrat wrote in an e-mail obtained by The Globe. Another, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fact that politicians are considering revitalization of Participaction reminds him of the federal sponsorship program in that there would be little value for the tax dollars spent... Within the bureaucracy, he said, everyone knows that this is wrong because other groups should be permitted to bid for the funding. And he questioned why anyone in this day and age would think Canadians need to be told that they should be physically active... ------------ Full article: http://tinyurl.com/o99fm ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask] SIGNOFF SDOH DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant. For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html