Finance committee  We do indeed. We fund ourselves about $55 million worth of research a year.

Finance committee  It's a health charity, so we raise donor dollars. We fund research and, by and large, health promotion and health public awareness programs. Our website is our big knowledge translation tool, so people go there for health information.

Finance committee  Thank you. We welcome the question. How do we make it happen? We've been struggling with that for a while. At first, the focus on prevention and the need to invest in that was pooh-poohed, because there was no evidence that it worked. That is now profoundly untrue; there is evidence everywhere, so it's not based on lack of evidence.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is one of Canada's leading health charities, and we're pleased to be celebrating our fiftieth anniversary this year. Over those fifty years we have invested about a billion dollars in research, raised from donors twenty bucks at a time.

Health committee  If I might just add to that, both Diane and I were recently involved in an initiative being led by the agri-food institute to bring the four departments--Public Health Agency, Health Canada, Agriculture Canada, and the CFIA--together to talk about how we can change food policy and at the same time benefit our agriculture policy.

Health committee  As Dr. Finegood said, there are various types of research. One area in which we don't do a lot of it and should be doing more is what I'll call intervention research, so that when we make a change in a community, we research it. A lot of the research is telling us why we should be doing things, what the basis of the actions is.

Health committee  We agree with those. Probably at the top of our list we would have put school policies as an immediate hit, and that includes food available at the schools, physical activity in the schools and after the schools, and education and incentives around a healthier lifestyle. So we would say school policies would be the best place to start.

Health committee  Yes. May I just add two short comments? I think this just shows what we mean by a comprehensive approach. With smoking, nobody would have guessed it was municipal bylaws that would have the most effect. For obesity in the north, it's transportation policy. It's not just health policy.

Health committee  The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada spoke in favour of that bill at this committee last year. We recognize some logistical problems for certain restaurants, but it became clear that those calorie counts are known. They're often on the back of a tray liner in some restaurants.

Health committee  In conclusion, Mr. Chair, we believe we can and must apply a number of the lessons learned from tobacco control. You've heard that from all of us. We did a good job on tobacco control. We can do a good job again. We need to be comprehensive in our approach. We have to use many levers.

Health committee  We appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you very much. The mission of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is to reduce death and disability from heart disease and stroke. I will mention that June is our 50th anniversary. There have been many advances in heart disease and stroke control and alleviation in the last half century.