Seventy-seven percent of young Americans are unfit to serve in the military due to being overweight, using drugs, mental health problems, or other health issues. It’s fairly well known that the U.S. population as a whole—not just young people—isn’t exactly known for healthy living.
In Canada, we also have significant health issues. Thirty percent of Canadian adults were obese in 2022 compared with 42 percent in the U.S. For perspective, our nation’s obesity rate is nearly double what you would find in France and more than seven times Japan. Canada also has a drug crisis, mental health challenges, and other health problems.
Where we differ from our neighbours to the south, however, is that they have high-ranking politicians talking about the problem. Recall, President Donald Trump and Robert Kennedy Jr., the newly sworn-in health secretary, committing to “make America healthy again” during the recent U.S. election. In Canada, we find crickets.
That should change. Imagine the possibilities if someone led the charge to “make Canada healthy again.”
Consider that our health-care system is clogged up with patients right now. Yes, we need health reform, but our system spends considerable resources each year treating patients who have entirely preventable health conditions. If more Canadians lived healthier lives, then we could take pressure off our health system in the first place, allowing it to spend more time helping those with unavoidable health problems—people with genetic conditions, those injured in unforeseen accidents, etc.
If you visit the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll read that “about four in ten” cancer cases are preventable. The Heart and Stroke Foundation notes that “almost 80 percent of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours.” Diabetes Canada notes that “90 percent” of diabetes cases in Canada are type two—the type that often arises due to lifestyle activities rather than genetics.
Something that’s interesting is that the three aforementioned organizations all list several preventative measures on their websites, but they do share two in common—more exercise and better diets.
Of course, our health system is not just backed up with treating diseases. Doctors will tell you that unhealthy lifestyles can also result in patients requiring premature joint replacements and more trips to family doctors’ offices and emergency rooms for colds and flus. For example, research from Harvard University found that people who were “sufficiently active” (exercised at least 150 minutes per week) were 27 percent less likely to require hospitalization for COVID.
To be sure, convincing millions of people to start living healthier is a tricky task for governments to navigate. In a true insurance model, those with higher risk profiles would pay higher premiums. For example, in the auto insurance sector, drivers who receive lots of speeding tickets pay higher insurance premiums. Even if one liked this approach for health care—i.e. those who live unhealthy lives pay higher premiums—it’s just not realistic. With the cost of living continuing to be among Canadians’ top concerns, no politician is going to introduce health premiums.
At the same time, no one wants a government agent knocking on their door at 6 AM to tell them it’s time to go for a run. Nor do we want to see government officials monitoring what we order in restaurants. It’s not the state’s job to micromanage our lives.
But if, as a species, we can put several rovers on Mars, then certainly we can find ways for governments to gently nudge people towards healthier living without intruding in our lives.
Sweden offers one option to consider. In the Scandinavian country, the government has an interesting, voluntary program called Physical Activity on Prescription. In short, if a patient needs to exercise more, doctors will give the patient a written prescription for exercise rather than casually mentioning “you should exercise more” in passing during doctor-patient consults. What the Swedish system does is help patients—who ask for assistance—with developing custom exercise plans.
One patient’s prescription might include walking their dog five days per week while another’s might call for joining a rec league hockey in the winter and taking up running during the summer. Either way, Swedish officials will follow up to help assess patient progress.
Swedish patients tend to follow these prescriptions at “about the same” rate they do for medicine prescriptions and the program has seen improvements to participants’ health—cholesterol, blood pressure, and body mass index to name a few. Other European countries have since followed the Swedish model.
Another policy option would be to simply make it easier for Canadian patients to access their medical records. With greater access, and perhaps allowing patients to—gasp—pay for more regular diagnostic testing, patients could monitor various levels in their blood (cholesterol, hemoglobin A1C, etc.) and subsequently make lifestyle changes, reducing their risk of disease.
A third option might be to help young students get off to a better start. Education systems could review how frequently school children have access to gym time and lessons about healthy eating. To be sure, there is a great debate about what constitutes a proper diet, but there is widespread agreement that junk food—including things like energy drinks and high-sugar sodas—is anything but healthy. Perhaps in health class students could review those shocking videos online that show how much sugar is in these drinks.
Again, these are just a few ideas to address the problem. If a leading Canadian politician led the charge to “make Canada healthy again” then no doubt even better ideas would come to light.
Colin Craig is the President of the Canadian think tank SecondStreet.org. In his spare time, he is working on exercising more and cutting back on sweets.
This column was originally published in The Hub on February 21, 2025.
