Photo Courtesy of The National Post

How you doing? Sniffly? Sneezy? Got a frog in your throat or a crick in the neck? Do you feel, to use the vernacular, like you want to barf up a lung?

Nope. “Fine.” That’s good to hear. And on that account, I say told you so.

With spring springing and the arrival of longer, warmer days and the promise of fun and excitement in the great outdoors, it’s time to take accounting of the pandemic flu season that just past. Or perhaps that should be non-demic.

I was serving on the Community Editorial Board of my local daily, The Guelph Mercury, this time last year. As the coming swine-flu-pocalypse was starting to break, I waxed sarcastically about the media’s attention to hysteria, and how when all the beans are counted, common medical sense will bear out and all the worry will have been for not.
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The Canadian government’s response to the H1N1 virus has been widely criticized for its perceived lack of foresight regarding its ability to inform and inoculate an increasingly frightened public.

Although the actual logistics of providing the vaccine are largely being seen to by individual provincial health services, Steven Harper’s Conservative government has borne the brunt of attacks about their level of preparedness in managing what the World Health Organization has been calling a global pandemic of so called ‘Swine Flu’ since August 29, 2009.

On October 21, 2009, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq and Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. David Butler-Jones hosted a joint press conference in Ottawa to urge all Canadians to ward against this new, highly virulent and potentially deadly strain of influenza.

“I’m happy to say that today Health Canada has authorized the H1N1 flu virus vaccine,” said a reassuring Aglukkaq, “This is a milestone in our efforts to fight H1N1 flu virus.”
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Several cities in Canada now have programs that provide safe crack pipes to drug users with the aim of curbing diseases like HIV. Programs like this and Canada’s government funded safe-injection sites are being criticized by the United Nations for violating the International Narcotics Control Board that Canada signed onto in 1988. The aim of the safe inhalation and injection sites in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver are to prevent the spread of infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. Laurel Ostfield from the Ontario Health Ministers office said, “The evidence shows — and this is evidence that’s supported by the World Health Organization — … that you really can prevent the spread of infectious diseases through safe inhalation or safe injection sites.”

Safe and Legal crack houses are a controversial topic, and for good reason. Having a government sanctioned spot for people to smoke a potent and dangerous drug can lead one to think that the Canadian government is condoning illegal activity. In Canada, crack cocaine is a Schedule 1 substance which holds a maximum possession sentence of 7 years, and a trafficking, production and exportation sentence of up to life. Critics have been arguing that the safe inhalation sites would further encourage crack addicts and would be diverting money from harm reduction and treatment.
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In an attempt to improve Canadians’ health, Nova Scotia has become the first province in the country to offer tax credits for the cost of gym memberships and other physical activities such as skiing, dancing, swimming and more.

The Healthy Living Tax Credit was initially introduced to Nova Scotian’s in 2005 but was limited to children’s activities only. Now, all Nova Scotian’s are eligible to claim up to $500 of registration fees for organized sports/activities, and the policy is expected to pay huge dividends.

Supporters insist the tax credit will encourage more people to be active, resulting in a healthier population. Nova Scotia also estimates the tax credits will save $8 million a year in health care costs. Even more compelling is the result of a study conducted by the Fitness Industry Council of Canada. They found that introducing a federal adult fitness tax credit would encourage one million more Canadians to become active and over the next 21 years, would amount to $2.5 billion in health care savings.
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