Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in favour of this motion but I must say that I do so very reluctantly.
On the surface, it seems like a good motion as it deals with taking steps to bring down the high levels of obesity, especially childhood obesity, in this country, but it does not do anything new. The motion just reiterates everything that is currently in the government's obesity framework but nothing in that obesity framework has been implemented. Nothing in that obesity framework has been done in spite of the fact that the putative efforts at the very beginning have been shown not to work and in spite of the government receiving advice to strengthen those efforts nothing has been done.
However, if we do not support the motion then we are in danger of not supporting apple pie, motherhood, sunshine, sweetness and life. As always, we have to stand here and support what on paper sounds like a good thing but in reality has absolutely no teeth.
Why is it a good thing to deal with the issue of childhood obesity? It is because we know that children today will not live as long as their parents will or did. Children aged 2 to 17 have an obesity rate of up to 26%, which is up from 15% 20 years ago. Youth aged 12 to 17 have a higher rate at 29%. First nations children and youth off-reserve have a combined obesity rate of 41%.
With obesity comes high incidence of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Type II diabetes, sleep apnea and joint problems. The economic costs of doing nothing about obesity leads us to another generation of lost productivity and increased costs to our health care system.
The sad thing about this is that obesity is preventable. We can do something about obesity. Other countries, especially European countries, have taken strong steps. They have set measurable goals and objectives for bringing down obesity in their populations, and they are talking about tiny amounts of obesity which they think are acceptable. However, those countries have put teeth in what they are doing.
Even the United States is doing things. It is making strong legislation and it is taking powerful aim at industry. It is mandating industry to take certain steps to deal with the percentage of trans fats, to label products and to ensure its products have lower sugar levels.
We do not see that happening here in spite of the minister receiving advice from not only advisory committees set up to look at this from a purely scientific perspective, but advice from the Department of Health itself.
In 2007, the government brought in, to its credit, a voluntary industrial initiative asking industry to bring down trans fats, the levels of salt and sugar and to look at carbonated beverages. However, that was voluntary and the Department of Health and all of the data has shown that it does not work. It has not brought the obesity rate down. Obesity keeps rising. Here we have a motion that says this is all wonderful. It repeats exactly what the government is doing. The motion would not put any teeth or any strength or any spine into what is happening.
We will vote for the motion and it will obviously pass. Government backbenchers will say that they are keen on fighting obesity and that they have done a great job dealing with it. They will tell Canadians to look at the private member's bill that everybody in the House voted for. However, the sad thing about it is that nothing will change and we will still have increasing rates of obesity.
We are all prepared to support a bill from a member who is prepared to take this issue on in a real way. We really want to do something about it.
We have talked about the federal and provincial ministers coming together with the federal government to create a pan-Canadian strategy. Part of it means not just advertising that people should be exercising, but talking about building infrastructure, creating coaches, creating places where the young people can play safely and do the maximum amount of exercises, both cardio and weight, that will bring down their obesity.
There is an ability for that to happen. Ministers agreed about 10 years ago that they would create this infrastructure of sport, not just saying that young people should exercise, but providing the tools they need. The ministers of education have talked about this. The ministers of sport have talked about this.
Many provinces have had to go off on their own and take strong measures, as strong as they can take under provincial jurisdiction, to bring down the rate of obesity. I know my province of British Columbia is determined that we will fight this. It has put forward all sorts of infrastructure for play, for sport and for encouraging physical activity. However, we are not doing it here.
The minister has never once stood to put up the necessary funding or the leadership behind the strategy for helping young people across the country to exercise, thus preventing young people from doing the physical activity they need and allowing for the continuation of low levels of physical activity among Canadian youth.
Let us take an inactive person. An inactive person will spend 38% more days in hospital, have 5.5 more family physician visits, use 13% more specialists' services and use 12% more nurse visits.
Physical activity brings down rates of chronic disease, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, breast cancer, colon cancer, type 2 diabetes and, later on in life, osteoporosis.
Obesity, to be very honest, costs the country $7.1 billion a year. One would think this is a cost benefit to put in place the mandatory requirements for industry to bring down the levels of trans fat, fat and sugar in our products. Other countries are doing it with no problems. One would think it is a no-brainer. The motion supports the government saying that it is a good thing, but it is does not add a single tooth toward making it happen.
We also note that we could save $76 billion over the next 10 years by tackling risk factors for heart disease, such as smoking, physical inactivity, obesity, et cetera. Yet in the government's last budget it cut the smoking cessation strategies by 34%.
I stand here and reluctantly admit that the Liberal Party will have to support the motion. Not to support it would be untenable. However, to support it means that are saying that we think we have done wonderfully well, that we have supported bringing down of obesity. However, another 10 years from now, someone will be sitting here arguing the same thing, talking about the rates of obesity, what it is costing in terms of productivity, lives lost and longevity and what going to be done about.
That is what bothers me a great deal in the House. We talk about a lot of things. I think the intent may be good. I am not impugning the intent, but nothing happens. We do not put in place measurable goals to achieve what we want to achieve, look at best practices in other countries and do what we need to do to deal with the issues and we problems can prevent.
Sixty per cent of all diseases that we suffer from today are preventable. We are talking about preventing a major one here. Sadly, I will support the motion, but it has very little to do with anything. We have the federal-provincial-territorial framework that has all these criteria that have been set, all the action that must be done. However, nothing has happened and it will not happen with this motion.