To begin with, I can tell you that I feel relatively comfortable talking about this, because the plan was not developed by my institution. Indeed, I myself made certain criticisms on a number of newscasts and, unfortunately for me, all that was reported were my negative comments. On the other hand, the Minister did not take my comments the wrong way.
One of the criticisms that I did make was the abundance of verbs such as “raise awareness“, “encourage“ and “foster“, which I declared to be “soft” verbs, given that it is difficult to associate indicators with them. It is difficult to know how to develop any concrete actions to implement these kinds of things, and that is definitely a weakness, even though the most serious weakness would be to have no plan whatsoever.
I also saw criticisms in the newspaper to the effect that the government had perhaps acted hastily. Some said the plan is disjointed, but the fact remains that seven ministries and three government organizations took part in developing it. That was not easy to accomplish, because certain departments really wondered what they were doing at the table preparing a plan that deals with healthy lifestyles and the prevention of weight-related problems. At first glance, they were being asked to express an opinion on issues that are not really of an economic nature. They are not used to that, and that is not part of the established tradition and culture. So, this is a first step towards changing that.
Change is occurring, and I think we are starting to acknowledge the importance of working in this area; so, we must take advantage of that. This plan will allow us to take the initial steps and then go much further.
Of the actions being proposed, there is a whole series of projects that are already underway, as well as new projects. Furthermore, a great many community groups in Quebec will work in parallel and concurrently with the government plan, thereby ensuring that people will be watching the government carefully to see that it takes specific measures to get things moving and achieve results.
It is important not to underestimate the commitment of other sectors of civil society. The government must show leadership, and the other sectors have to get involved in order to complement what the government is doing. So, although some actions are not laid out in the plan, because I am aware of what is going on, I know that other organizations will take responsibility for them.
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