Finance Committee on Nov. 20th, 2012

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I call this meeting to order. This is the 93rd meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance.

Welcome to all of you here this afternoon.

The orders of the day at this finance committee are pursuant to Standing Order 83.1, a continuation our pre-budget consultations for 2012.

We have two panels this afternoon and evening, colleagues. In the first panel we have six organizations represented.

First, we are going to hear from a representative of the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec.

Next we have the Canadian Bankers Association. We have the Canadian Medical Association.

We also have a representative from Skate Canada with us.

We have the Writers Guild of Canada.

By video conference from Toronto we have the University of Toronto. Ms. Wolfson, can you hear me in Toronto?

[Judith Wolfson, Vice-President, University Relations, University of Toronto]

Thank you for the opportunity of appearing here.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much.

Each of you has five minutes maximum for your opening statement.

We will start with Ms. Samson.

Please go ahead, madam.

[Claire Samson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec]

Thank you, and good afternoon.

I am the president and CEO of the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec, the APFTQ. The association has been active for 40 years. It brings together some 140 independent film and television production companies. That is the majority of Quebec companies involved in production for all screens in both official languages.

The total volume of film and television production in Canada reached $5.5 billion in 2010-2011. In that same period, the industry was the direct or indirect source of 128,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

Despite our success, the audiovisual industry requires stable funding that will allow it to meet the challenges of the new digital economy and to rebuild after the country’s economic slowdown. But the budgetary restrictions on the audiovisual industry, present and future, are affecting and will continue to affect our industry ever more negatively. The federal government must continue to invest in audiovisual production.

We represent an industry that is fragile and fragmented, even at a time when the trend is to convergence. Without increased support from the government, the presence and diversity of Canadian content will be evermore in jeopardy, both on traditional broadcast platforms and new digital platforms. Support must continue for productions created and produced in Canada, by Canadians and for Canadians so that Canadians can have better access to the productions in which we see ourselves. Here are the measures that we feel are vital for us to reach that point.

First, investment in the audiovisual support programs that are run by Canadian Heritage must be increased, not decreased. I am specifically referring to the programs of Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund.

Since its creation, Telefilm Canada’s Canada Feature Film Fund has provided the industry in Canada with the means necessary to produce quality feature films. But, for a number of years, the funding has not kept up with the need. The success of the feature film sector, and of all the jobs it creates, depends on increased government support. In addition, the Canada Media Fund must remain permanent, because it succeeded in meeting government objectives very well. Maintaining the fund, including a return to a strong television component, will allow television production to benefit from full funding; those productions remain the most appreciated by Canadian viewers who can watch them on the screens of their choice.

A recent study by a Université de Montréal research group on youth and the media demonstrated the importance and value that Canadian families continue to place in television and the unwavering role that it continues to play in their homes. But funding must also be increased so that all content can be made available digitally. We will return to this a little later in the context of our fourth recommendation.

Second, the rules of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit must be changed to allow labour costs associated with the production of digital film or television content. It is still difficult to fund them adequately because few existing business models are viable and few funding programs are in tune with this new reality. This measure will encourage the production of content of even greater quality. It will thereby allow the government to meet its objective of being a world leader in the new digital economy.

Third, Canada’s policy on international co-productions must be completed and implemented. Adequate investment must be made in the area. The creation of a fund specifically for co-production would allow the business model to start again and to reach the point where Canada is signing treaties with some countries and renegotiating them with others. The international co-production business model must be revived; because of it, foreign capital is injected into our homegrown productions and into Canada’s economy, while enabling our culture to be showcased elsewhere in the world.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have one minute left.

[Claire Samson]

Thank you.

In order to interest foreign producers, we have to offer an attractive proposition matched by dedicated funds.

Fourth and last, buoyed by our experience with the Canada Media Fund, we believe that it is now time to establish a specific fund to finance Canadian cultural content that can be developed digitally. To do this, we see two major contributors to the fund, the government and the stakeholders.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you for your presentation.

Next we will have the Canadian Bankers Association.

[Terry Campbell, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Bankers Association]

Thank you, Chairman.

The CBA is pleased to participate in the committee's pre-budget consultations in preparation for Budget 2013.

As many of you know, the CBA represents 54 banks in this country and their 274,000 employees across Canada.

Our banks are playing an important role in helping families, businesses and communities across Canada to weather the economic turbulence that still persists around the globe. The strength of our national banking system and the soundness of our banks are rooted in effective management, regulation and supervision.

This soundness has been recognized internationally. The World Economic Forum named Canadian banks number one in the world for safety and soundness for five years running, in large measure I think because the banks in this country are practical, prudent, and play by the rules.

I want to turn to our pre-budget submission to the committee that we made earlier this year. I'm going to provide a very brief overview. I look forward to our conversation afterwards.

The first point we make in our submission is that keeping taxes competitive is, in our view, a key tool for promoting economic growth by encouraging new investment. Higher taxes, by contrast, would discourage investment by reducing the return that entrepreneurs and businesses get on their capital. This is why we are pleased with the federal government's commitment to maintain a 15% corporate income tax rate.

While governments nowadays do face difficult decisions in their efforts to return to balanced budgets, we are concerned by proposals to postpone or reverse tax rate reductions. The reductions in the combined federal-provincial tax rate since 2000 have made Canada more competitive without reducing tax revenues. Overall, corporate income tax revenues increased by 44% from 2000 to 2010 and remained relatively stable as a percentage of GDP.

Provincial tax rates are an important part of this equation as well. That's why we are recommending that the federal government encourage the provinces to achieve and maintain a 10% targeted corporate income tax rate.

In our submission, we also have some commentary about capital taxes, but in the interests of time, Mr. Chairman, I think I'll suggest that if members have questions here, we can come back to it later.

Another point we raise in our submission is that despite the economic weaknesses we see in other countries, the Canadian economy has performed relatively well in comparison to its peers. We support efforts to continue to lay the groundwork for additional growth and job creation through the broadening of Canada's trade and investment relationships.

To that end, we agree with the federal government's initiatives to broaden Canada's trade profile around the world. Over the last several years, the federal government has actively negotiated, signed, and brought into force several free trade agreements, foreign investment promotion and protection agreements, and other international documents.

These initiatives provide for an increased level of predictability, certainty, and access for Canadian businesses, so the CBA is encouraging the federal government to consider including, while pursuing trade negotiations in the future, measures that would prevent the extraterritorial application of foreign laws to Canadian financial institutions and account holders. An example we have here, obviously, is the U.S. FATCA legislation.

Also, in our submission we note that the banking industry welcomed the passage in June of this year of Bill C-25, the Pooled Registered Pension Plans Act. PRPP would be I think particularly useful for people who do not now have access to a private sector pension plan, which we know is common among employees of small and medium-sized businesses and the self-employed. These groups have typically faced barriers to private pension schemes, given that other options are often too costly or administratively complex and contain risks that smaller employers are not prepared to take.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

You have one minute.

[Terry Campbell]

To make the PRPP successful, provincial governments must adopt companion legislation to enable the PRPP to cover provincially regulated businesses across the country. We encourage the federal government to continue working cooperatively with the provinces on the PRPP model.

Finally, Canada's productivity I think is closely tied to the efficiency and effectiveness of its financial system, including the importance of having a streamlined national regulatory regime applicable across the country.

With that, I'll make two points, very briefly. We have concerns about the tendency towards growing fragmentation in the regulatory system, which is why we strongly supported the federal government including in the Bank Act a preamble that would state the federal purpose and remind us of its exclusive federal jurisdiction. We're strong supporters of that. We also remain strong supporters of the federal government's efforts to create a national securities regulator and encourage Minister Flaherty to continue his efforts in that regard.

Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. I look forward to questions.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much for your presentation.

Now, the Canadian Medical Association, please.

[Dr. Anna Reid, President, Canadian Medical Association]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the committee for having the CMA present before you as you prepare for next year's federal budget.

Canada's doctors focus every day on finding innovative ways to provide better care for our patients. Above all else, physicians want to provide patient-centred care within an efficient, high-quality, sustainable health care system. However, just like millions of other Canadians, we are frustrated with a health care system that provides quality care but is not efficient. According to the OECD, Canada ranks seventh highest of 34 OECD countries in per capita health care spending, but well down the list in terms of health care system performance.

There are a number of actions within federal jurisdiction that the Government of Canada could take to improve health outcomes and exercise a leadership role in transforming our health care system while recognizing that we are in a time of continued economic uncertainty.

First, we recommend that every major new federal policy initiative in which health could be implicated be put to the test of a health impact assessment. Looking at new policies through the perspective of their potential costs and benefits to the health of Canadians would have a significant beneficial impact. Evidence shows that every action with a negative effect on health will incur heavier costs to society down the road.

Policies and regulations moved forward by elected officials today may well have consequences for future generations. That is why to ensure unintended consequences are avoided, the CMA is recommending that a health impact assessment be included in the cabinet decision-making process.

Second, the government's economic action plan, with its large infrastructure component, was effective in insulating Canadians from the global recession while providing communities with much-needed infrastructure. We recommend that the government build on this success by targeted investments in health infrastructure. Such an approach could begin to address the current lack of long-term care beds across the country, a shortage that prevents too many Canadians from accessing better, more efficient care in an appropriate and less costly care setting.

According to Finance Canada's recent report, the senior population is projected to increase to around 37% of the population by 2030. Assuming current residency rates, the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association predicts that Canada will need over 800,000 long-term care beds by the year 2047—over two and a half times what we have now.

Third, doctors and other health care providers can only do so much when a patient lacks proper food or housing, adequate income, or the education needed to make informed decisions. Many of the health issues we physicians see downstream every day are the result of upstream circumstances that are almost guaranteed to cause illness. Therefore, we recommend that the federal government recognize the implications of the social determinants of health on the demands of the health care system.

These and other CMA recommendations reflect the evolution in health care over the last 30 years, an evolution marked by an aging population and ongoing fiscal pressures. The system needs to evolve from its emphasis on acute care for things like injuries and curable diseases to improving prevention and better managing the afflictions associated with aging. Our country needs to catch up with other nations and develop a pan-Canadian strategy for long-term care, home care, and palliative care. We badly need a dementia strategy, and we need a national pharmaceutical strategy. We should not accept that one in 10 Canadians cannot afford to buy the medicines they've been prescribed.

Finally, we recommend that the federal government introduce incentives, measurable goals, pan-Canadian metrics and measurements that would link health care spending to comparable health outcomes. This could be done through an agency such as the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Jurisdiction for health care is shared among federal, provincial, and territorial governments. There is no reason why this should preclude the federal government from leveraging its spending power to help Canadians get better value for money spent and better patient care, or from working with the provinces and territories to ensure portability and equity for Canadians across the country.

Canadians deserve a health care system that meets their needs, and they expect leaders at all levels to ensure that they get one. As Canadians continue to rank health care as their number one priority, they clearly recognize the importance of a strong, efficient health care system to their lives, our communities, and our country's prosperity.

I would be pleased to answer any questions.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you for your presentation.

We'll now hear from the Writers Guild of Canada, please.

[Kelly Lynne Ashton, Director, Policy, Writers Guild of Canada]

Good afternoon, members of the finance committee. My name is Kelly Lynne Ashton, and I am the director of policy of the Writers Guild of Canada.

Thank you for inviting the Writers Guild to appear before you today. We are the national association representing more than 2,000 professional screenwriters working in English language film, television, radio, and digital production in Canada.

I am here today to share the Writers Guild's thoughts on how the government can strategically support the audio-visual sector as a way of creating highly skilled jobs across Canada. We understand that the government is still concerned about economic recovery, but properly targeted funding can stimulate recovery and insulate sectors from the impact of international economic failure.

The film, television, and digital media sectors are economic drivers and growth areas of the economy. The recession hit our sector as it did everywhere, but we have been able to quickly rebound and are almost at pre-recession levels of employment. In fiscal 2010-11, the film and television sector generated 128,000 direct and indirect full-time equivalent jobs and generated $7.46 billion of GDP. The video game industry itself currently employs 16,000 people and is growing rapidly.

The bottom line is that the film, television, and digital media sectors are opportunities for highly skilled employment that is better positioned to weather recessionary storms than some other sectors. People will always want entertainment.

Screenwriters are the catalysts for those jobs. In film and television, it all starts with the screenwriter's blank page. The screenwriter expends the hours and hours of effort that result in the script that producers take to broadcasters to solicit investment. That script then generates dozens of jobs on the production crew, from entry-level production assistant jobs to highly skilled jobs as editor or director of photography. If a television series is successful and is renewed for multiple seasons, those scripts have generated hundreds and hundreds of jobs, allowing talented people to learn and be promoted into more senior jobs, and will have ensured that those talented people stay in Canada.

The film, television, and digital media sectors currently benefit from government support through the Canada Media Fund. We are grateful for that support and for this government's making the CMF permanent. However, the CMF mandate has been expanded from just television to include convergent media, digital media such as video games, and third-language production, all without additional funding. There are calls for more support to be directed to digital media, but in the absence of additional funding for CMF, such support cannot be accomplished without sacrificing support for television production.

Television still captures a larger audience than digital media, by a large margin. A lot of viewing on digital platforms is of television programs. Funding television benefits the largest number of Canadians, providing them with high-quality domestic audio-visual entertainment. Enhanced funding to the CMF would support the production of more television programs and more digital media content, such as web series and video games. This would also mean more jobs for Canadians.

Another useful tool for job creation would be to extend the film or video production tax credit to digital distribution. To qualify for the tax credit currently, productions require a theatrical distributor or broadcaster. This excludes digital distribution, an important growth area of production.

Extending the tax credit would provide much-needed additional financing for web series, an increasingly popular form of entertainment created by both emerging and experienced talent as a way to reach audiences directly. As a labour-based tax credit, it supports a domestic talent pool and helps small, creator-owned businesses to flourish. Web series have low barriers to entry into international markets for Canadians, as there are no shipping costs or duties, and talented Canadians are taking advantage of these opportunities to reach global audiences.

Finally, we must address the government's cuts to Telefilm, the CBC, and the heritage department itself. We understand that each department must do its part to reduce government spending and pay down the debt. However, we have concerns about what repeated and escalating cuts to cultural institutions will mean for our industry.

Telefilm and the CBC have worked hard to cut infrastructure and staff and not just content, but if the budget cuts continue, there is no avoiding a serious negative impact on content. Telefilm's entire budget, for English and French, is $104 million. That is the cost of one average Hollywood movie; yet in Canada it leverages financing for 50 or more movies. Further cuts to Telefilm's budget will put our domestic film industry at risk.

As for the CBC, its budget woes are well known. They have cut 650 jobs and sold off assets and have tried to protect Canadian programming on prime time. Further cuts to the CBC, the biggest broadcaster of Canadian drama, will undermine not just the CBC but the entire independent production sector.

Finally, cuts to the Department of Heritage will make it harder for its staff to conduct research, meet with stakeholders, and provide the kind of valuable insight into the industry—

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, thank you. Just wrap up, please.

[Kelly Lynne Ashton]

—that we have come to rely on.

Thank you for your time. We look forward to answering any questions you have.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you for your presentation.

We will now go to Toronto, to the vice-president of the University of Toronto, Judith Wolfson.

We will hear your five-minute presentation, please.

[Judith Wolfson]

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. I am pleased to appear in front of you again on behalf of the University of Toronto to speak about the important role of talent and innovation in Canada's economy.

Today I would like to highlight two initiatives established by the Government of Canada by which we might address these issues: the science and technology strategy and the international education strategy.

Let me begin with Canada's science and technology strategy. The backbone of tomorrow's economy will be the quality of our science and technology, our innovation, and our entrepreneurship.

Business innovation relies on basic research to create innovative products and services. Stable funding for basic research is a prerequisite to knowledge creation. In addition to the research itself, students are arguably the best carriers of knowledge from our labs to industry.

For example, the University of Toronto recently established the Master of Science and Applied Computing, a unique program aimed at innovators and entrepreneurs that involves an eight-month internship. Remarkably, 100% of the first graduating cohort were offered full-time jobs by their internship employers.

We believe the government would generate immense value by further investing in these types of internship industry opportunities. For example, Mitacs, with its accelerate, elevate, and enterprise programs, and NSERC have some very successful industrial fellowship programs, which should be expanded.

Innovation infrastructure is another important element of Canada's science and technology strategy. Major science and technology buildings, particularly at Canada's research-intensive universities, require continued investment to expand and modernize facilities in order to remain internationally competitive. Federal support for these large-scale capital projects is required to advance the science and technology strategy by complementing existing support provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Let me now turn to the need for Canada to sharpen its international focus. International trade is a top priority for our country. Canada, as we know, is a trading nation. Our economy depends on the flow of goods and services, and increasingly, it also depends on the flow of people and ideas.

The University of Toronto is helping to address the need for increased internationalization in our economy. We have 10,000 international students from more than 160 countries. In fact, our engineering faculty alone has 26% of its incoming undergraduates and 22% of graduate students as international students. This faculty is addressing some of the brightest young people from abroad, as reflected by the first-year entering average, which is 91.3%.

Our research enterprise is similarly internationalized; 43% of all research at the University of Toronto published by our professors is co-authored with international collaboration.

What is the return on investment for international students coming to study in Canada? International students often stay after completing their post-secondary degrees to become some of our most highly skilled immigrants.

Recently I participated in an event in Toronto at which Minister Kenney celebrated a young man named Gaurav Gore, a University of Toronto MBA student who became the 20,000th permanent resident accepted through the Canadian experience class program. This valuable program offers a path for Canadian residency for temporary foreign workers and international students graduating in Canada.

At U of T, more than 25% of Ph.D. students studying on a visa become permanent residents.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

One minute remains.

[Judith Wolfson]

Let me tell you about Nilesh Bansal, who chose U of T because of its reputation when he came from India to complete his master's degree in computer science. His studies included the development of a tool to analyze social media. The tool was spun out as a new company called Sysomos, which grew to employ dozens as it quickly attracted an impressive list of global clients, including Microsoft, Disney, and Coca-Cola. It was sold to a Canadian company for $34 million, and this young man remains in Canada as the chief technology officer.

Students who return to their home country also benefit Canada by seeding new international networks based on life-long connections they have built here.

We recommend that the government encourage the international education market by investing in excellent scholarships, particularly at the graduate level. Not only will this invite the brightest students from abroad, but it has a potential to leverage existing funding for students from other jurisdictions.

In conclusion, universities are creating the most skilled members of Canada's workforce, and their discoveries will give our industries their competitive edge. We thoroughly appreciate the support provided by the federal government, and we are keen to expand those partnerships and welcome any comments from the chair.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much for your presentation.

We have our sixth organization here, Skate Canada.

Welcome, Ms. Rochette. You have five minutes for your presentation.

[Joannie Rochette, Olympic Bronze Medalist, Skate Canada]

Hello. My name is Joannie Rochette. I am here today to make a presentation on behalf of Skate Canada.

Mr. Chair, I want to thank the committee for their interest in hearing more about Skate Canada and the 100th anniversary of the first official Canadian figure skating championship, which will take place in 2014.

First, allow me to introduce the Skate Canada delegation here with me today, starting with our president, Benoit Lavoie; Mrs. Jackie Stell-Buckingham, director of events; Mrs. Debbi Wilkes, director of business development and a 1964 Olympic silver medallist; and my fellow teammates, Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, Olympic champions and two-time world champions, as well as Patrick Chan, two-time world champion.

We're all here today because we're passionate about skating.

Skating in Canada is more than a sport. It's part of our nation's culture and a large part of our history. We Canadians learn to skate at a very young age, and sometimes when we can barely walk. Skating is the first activity we learn before our other Canadian sports, like hockey, lacrosse, or football. Skating is also something that new Canadians do at the first opportunity. New Canadians get their first pair of skates and hit the ice because that's what you're supposed to do when you live in Canada.

It all starts at the ice rink in every local community where Skate Canada supports Canadians every step of the way and all the way to the top.

Whether you're from a small rural community, like Scott, a mid-sized city, like Tessa, or a large metropolitan area, like Patrick, skating is woven into the fabric of communities across our nation. It's truly part of our Canadian DNA.

Skating clubs and community rinks across the country are the gathering places of Canadians. The rink is the place where I went to learn to skate, the place I went to meet friends, to keep physically active and to socialize outside of school. It was a place where I developed both skating and life skills. And it was the centre of the community.

My father was a hockey coach and brought me to the ice when I was 22 months old, with two-bladed skates.

I was raised on an island, Île Dupas, in the middle of the St. Lawrence River. My family would go ice fishing in the winter. Around the holes, my father would create a surface where I could skate. I was the one on watch for the fish while my parents were warming up in the hut.

I was an only child. My mother thought it was a great idea to have me join the Berthierville figure skating club to make friends before I started school. I got really inspired when I saw the Olympics in 1994 in Lillehammer and I saw the performance of Olympic champion Oksana Baiul. She was athletic and graceful. It was the first time that I was so moved watching a skating competition, and that's when I decided I would do whatever it takes to get to the Olympics one day.

Skate Canada is the largest figure skating governing body in the world, with over 182,000 registered members in more than 1,250 clubs in communities from St. John's to Victoria, from Yellowknife to Kuujjuaq. Skate Canada provides everyone the opportunity to skate, from toddlers to seniors of all ages and in all parts of Canada. Some will go on to play hockey, or continue both figure skating and hockey careers, as did Jeffrey Skinner of the Carolina Hurricanes. Some will speed skate. Some will just learn for fun. Some will skate seasonally in places such as the Rideau Canal. And being Canadian, some will continue on the path of figure skating and might just live a dream like I did and earn the honour of representing our nation on the world stage.

We have had a great history and legacy of skating success. Many Canadians have changed and elevated the sport and art of skating over the years.

We can think, for example, of the recently departed 1948 Olympic champion, Barbara Ann Scott, 1960 Olympic champions Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul, 1962 World Champion, Donald Jackson, 1988 silver medallist Brian Orser, 1988 Olympic bronze medallists Tracy Wilson and Rob McCall, of Elvis Stojko, Kurt Browning, David Pelletier and Jamie Salé.

The list goes on.

All those champions were pushing the technical limits of the sport and making history with new firsts for Canada. With only a few major national sport Canadian sports celebrating the hundred-year mark, like the 100th Grey Cup this weekend, I feel that recognizing 100 years of Canadian figure skating championships is important to our national pride.

The first Canadian figure skating championships were held right here in the nation's capital in 1914.

The 100th anniversary will give us a chance to reflect on our past, where we have come from, as well as to celebrate and hopefully inspire another generation of young boys and girls to skate. I am sure that it will also be an extra boost to our Canadian team heading to Sochi, Russia for the Olympic Games.

We ask for your support, and we ask you to partner with us at Skate Canada to work together to prepare for this very special celebration in 2014, the hundredth anniversary of the first Canadian figure skating championships.

Thank you. Merci.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you very much for your presentation. I will say hello on behalf of my figure skating teacher, my mother. I hope my mom is watching this program.

We will start members' questions with a five-minute round for Ms. Nash, please.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Thank you.

Welcome to all of you. It's so unfair that we each get only five minutes to ask all of you questions, so I'll get right to it.

I'd like to start with Dr. Reid. I see you've made numerous recommendations in your presentation, Dr. Reid, and so many of them really hit home. I applaud the work you're doing in putting a focus on the social determinants of health.

I'm curious about the health impact assessment. I understand that is applied now not only in some countries around the world but also in the province of Quebec. Is that a tool that would help governments make better budget decisions because they would then have a fuller understanding of the true costs and benefits of spending or not spending when it comes to health?

[Dr. Anna Reid]

We know that actually health outcomes are determined only 25% by the health care system itself, 15% by genetics and biology, and 10% by the physical environment. A full 50% is actually determined by what we call the socio-economic determinants of health. Knowing this, we feel strongly that we do need to take a look upstream at those factors that actually cause people to become ill in the first place, things such as poor housing, inadequate food supply, inadequate access to proper early childhood development, and education.

A health impact assessment would enable governments to actually view every policy decision through a health lens so that they could look at upstream things such as housing and see how policy decisions regarding this would impact health down the road. It has been used around the world in a number of areas. A large study done in the United Kingdom actually showed the cost benefits of using a health impact assessment tool, and that it will—