Health Committee on May 27th, 2019

[Elio Antunes]

Well, actually, that commercial was probably the very first one that Participaction developed. Yes, it showed that a 60-year-old Swede was in better shape than a 30-year-old Canadian.

We, as part of our report card.... As I mentioned, from a children and youth perspective, 48 countries are now replicating the report card. Every two years, we do an analysis across these 48 countries. I would say that Canada is probably in the middle of the pack.

We're actually doing well in the areas of organized activity and facilities. Where we're not doing really well is in active outdoor play, active transportation and the more unstructured types of activities. I think we've been very focused on structured activity, which provides value in and of itself, but it's not making our kids more physically active.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

I live a few blocks from an elementary school, and I see parking lots full at the end of the day as parents are picking up their kids. I see bike racks empty during the day, when back in our day, they were full. You're absolutely right that we need to change society and our way of thinking, and we have to target the parents.

[Panagiota Klentrou]

Maybe we just have to create massive walking teams or squads rather than the bus, so instead of everybody having to walk their kids down to school, they meet on a corner and they walk down with a team leader. That's another way of seeing public transportation: Our feet can be transportation.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Time is up.

Thank you for the exercise break; it felt good.

[Len Webber, Conservative, Calgary Confederation, AB]

Maybe we should have another one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

No, not right now.

Ms. Quach, you have seven minutes.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the members of both organizations for joining us today.

I have several questions.

You both talked about programs with long-term plans.

An initial policy is aimed at physical activity, which includes young people. You said that the $25 million wouldn't be used exclusively for young people.

Have any countries with investments in physical activity, especially among young people, been able to serve as models and demonstrate the positive impact on the health care system, the economic system, education and productivity?

Mr. Antunes, you provided several figures on productivity and health.

Could Canada refer to and draw inspiration from any models?

[Elio Antunes]

First of all, just to clarify, the $25 million that Participaction received is not just targeted at children and youth; it's all populations.

The second question is interesting, and I mentioned in my notes that internationally we are looked upon for leadership. They take our ideas and they mobilize governments and create investment and implement specific strategies and programs based on a lot of the initial thinking done here in Canada.

There are examples. We talked about New Zealand having an outdoor strategy; their focus is around getting kids outside. Some of the Scandinavian countries have focus around daily physical education. Every country approaches the issue from a different perspective. What we have found and what is common across all countries, from a children and youth perspective, is this value of physical activity within their cultural norms.

They may approach it from different perspectives and through different programs, but it's always valued. It's not a question. In New Zealand, kids will go outside for two hours a day; that's what's expected. In Japan, kids are expected to walk and not be driven. In some of the other European and Scandinavian countries, physical education is normalized. Kids get, I think, over 60 minutes of physical education per day.

We can approach this issue in many different ways, but we need to value it and we need to have a long-term commitment and investment to see it through.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

You both spoke of additional investments needed in the long term. How much are we talking about?

We're proud of our $25 million. However, the people in my constituency hadn't heard anything about the common vision, and they say that they lack money. In addition, the witnesses from the Public Health Agency of Canada said earlier that there wasn't necessarily any targeted funding for rural, remote or vulnerable populations.

The Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology has given an “F” rating for 24-hour movement behaviours, sleep, activities, and so on.

How much should we increase the investment in physical activity among young people in Canada?

[Panagiota Klentrou]

This is not an easy question for a researcher, but I would say between $3 million and $5 million yearly could make a difference. That's only for, again, program-specific, targeted initiatives and so on. I don't know; I only know how much you can save by making everybody more active, and that's in the billions.

It's not so much how much you spend today, but how much you invest in the future and what the return is going to be in the future from that investment.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

You have figures for the return on investment. Can you share them?

[Panagiota Klentrou]

Yes.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

What's the return on each dollar invested in the health and physical activity of young people? You spoke a little bit about it, Mr. Antunes.

[Panagiota Klentrou]

Yes. Maybe Participaction—

[Elio Antunes]

There is. I don't have it with me, but I can certainly get it to you. There are return-on-investment numbers. Certainly the Conference Board of Canada has done that for adults. The data isn't as vast for children and youth.

This is maybe where we don't align with my colleagues here. I would say that we're not looking at $3 million to $5 million to make a change in physical activity behaviours; we're looking at hundreds of millions of dollars to actually make an impact.

If you look at the smoking cessation movement I referenced, you'll see that 30 years after the movement started—I believe in 2018—there was additional new money of $80 million on top of what was already being invested for smoking cessation and tobacco control, bringing the investment to well over $300 million. That's 30 years after the movement started. Gerry and the Public Health Agency can talk about the total investment in physical activity, but I think it's in the neighbourhood of $100 million.

Right there, there's a disconnect. Less than 17% of Canadians smoke, but more than 80% of Canadians are physically inactive, so there's a clear imbalance of investment here. I'm not suggesting you take money out of smoking cessation and put it into physical activity, but if we value physical activity and if we understand and believe that physical inactivity will have the same type of health consequences as smoking—which the evidence suggests it is, and can, and will—then we need to step up with the same level of attention and investment. I'm talking hundreds of millions, not thousands.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

You said that there aren't enough federal programs to promote physical activity to young people and their parents. You said that the recommendations aren't being implemented. Do you have any examples and concrete recommendations? An oversight committee on the common vision was supposed to have been established a year ago. What federal programs were you talking about?

[Elio Antunes]

I'm not sure that we're lacking programs. I think there are lots of great programs, and I think the Public Health Agency has invested in significant programs that are demonstrating value.

I think what we're lacking is an overall coordinated approach. We have a policy framework that's not being actioned, and I think there is a bit of a disconnect between the federal and the provincial/territorial governments. I know this is not typical just for physical activity; I think it's probably typical for all government business when you have to work together, but I think we have to put those issues aside. We have to look at the common good will that we're all trying to achieve. We have to figure out ways to work together and not wait for the others to step up.

My challenge to you would be the same challenge to provincial and territorial ministers whom I met with recently at their conference: We need leadership. We need leadership at a federal level and we need leadership at a provincial/territorial level. I certainly think that there is a role for the federal government to play—a significant role—but I also think that you can't do it alone. You need the provinces and territories to be there to support.

[Anne Minh-Thu Quach, NDP, Salaberry—Suroît, QC]

I have one last question.

You mentioned a common strategy and the lack of municipal infrastructure for transportation and travel. Are you in contact with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, for example? Should the federal government work more proactively with municipalities and invest more in active living infrastructure?

[Elio Antunes]

I think yes, and I guess our proposal is to establish a parliamentary secretary. The Department of Health has a huge mandate. Maybe you're the parliamentary secretary, but you have a lot of priorities on your plate. We have a minister of science and sport, which is related to physical activity but also is very specific on sport, which is what the mandate there is.

I think there's a lack of coordination and leadership at the federal level, and I think we need a champion. Our recommendation is a parliamentary secretary who can mobilize various federal departments—health, sport, transportation, environment, citizenship and immigration, even veterans affairs—to look at physical activity supports and strategies, and also to work very intimately with the provinces and territories, which then can also work with their municipalities. I think it's sometimes very difficult for a federal government to work directly at a municipal level, but certainly if we're all working collectively with our provinces and territories, that can be easily facilitated.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Okay. Thanks very much.

I'm going to offer Mr. Peterson an opportunity to ask a question.

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to our witnesses for being here. Thanks again to the committee for undertaking this study. I think it's important.

Mr. Antunes, I have a couple of questions for you. I've read the report that you referred to often. I commend it to everybody, a Participaction report—nice colours, too. The subtitle on the front reads: “Canadian kids need to move more to boost their brain health”. That's a nice summary of where we're all coming from, or where I was coming from, when we brought the motion forward.

In this report there is, as you know, an expert statement about mental health and self-esteem and things like that in youth. Can you elaborate a little bit on those components of the report and their importance when it comes to developing healthy young Canadians?

[Elio Antunes]

In every report card that we publish, we focus on a different issue. The purpose and the challenge is to highlight that physical activity benefits many aspects of one's life.

If you want to deal with mental health issues of youth, we should be thinking physical activity, in addition to all the other strategies. If you're thinking about peer relationships, or academic excellence, in schools, physical education is often taken away from kids as a punishment, when in fact you should be giving them more physical activity if they're misbehaving, because they're going to be more attentive and do better at school.

The connection to brain health was really a way for us to work with non-traditional partners to engage them in dialogue around the role that physical activity plays in helping kids think better, feel better and interact better with their peers. There's a lot of information, which I would encourage you to read through. The brief we submitted goes into a lot more detail.

It's really just a highlight of the benefits of physical activity to kids' overall brain health, both from a cognitive perspective and from an emotional and a performance perspective.

[Panagiota Klentrou]

May I add something?

[Kyle Peterson, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Yes, please.