● Cycling highlighted as a solution for health problems by Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer.
The Chief Public Health Officer of Canada recently released her report on the state of public health in the country, and in it, cycling is prominently highlighted as one of the solutions for making Canada a healthier place to live.
The Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, reports that there’s an increasing percentage of Canadians who are obese, living with diabetes, or a mood disorder, and that these health issues are linked to some of the leading causes of death, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory disease.
One of the ways the report proposes to fight this problem is by encouraging people to be physically active by engaging in “active transportation”, which simply means doing more cycling and walking to get around.
The report doesn’t just mention cycling in passing or as a handy example. The message that it’s time to get more Canadians on their bicycles is clear and explicit throughout the document. It emphasizes the need for infrastructure to make cycling safer, and it points to the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Finland, and Sweden as countries that Canada could emulate in an effort to promote cycling.
It’s worth noting that this is not just some opinion piece. It’s the official report of the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, and it is a highly footnoted document that is based on evidence drawn from numerous studies and research. It also dovetails nicely with a recent study in the UK involving 250,000 people that shows cycling to work can reduce the risk of death from cancer and heart disease by close to 50%.
With all this, and the fact that provincial and federal governments are always clamoring for ways to reduce health care costs, one has to wonder how much longer it is going to take to see serious well funded initiatives to promote cycling in Canada.
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no sht… go to other countries and everyone is out doing something… some places are so independent they have goats out mowing the lawn, chickens pooping to keep the lawn green, cows to fertilize the garden, water solar panels to heat the water, cinder block homes that can withstand hurricanes, everyone working together in the family with barter systems in place… Only in america have we become this push button nation of fools really – where big proves worth (really related to people’s self esteem, when you need stuff to show your worth, worry…). Its a rather lazy nation and we are merely following the fools to the south, the good ol USA where people go bankrupt because the medical industry is a huge business. They scrw themselves really with narcissistic leaders who don’t give a damn about their own people but themselves. Its a nation where much money is to be made off of people problems… cops making over 100k a year, massive justice and jail systems, etc.. the USA would love to see our medical system fault, then they could take it over with their private systems. We fools will allow this to happen, as we give most of ourselves away (ie resources). Luckily we have a low population count and many resources or we would be a third world country by now.
So, what does biking do? of course it is good for our health. But, if you bike to/from work everyday it saves us big time in taxes. As our roads are congested with traffic which costs us huge in taxes. Many benefits to cycling… get to see the world in a different light.
But, as a push button society now of go no place fast with lack of self confidence (as per our need for big stuff to prove our worth)… we will fall victim to laziness as the USA has and people making a lot of money off of people problems…going to be a hard fix… cause its easy to be lazy.