Grasping at straws: a recent history of health promotion in Canada

Abstract

Despite Canada's reputation as a leader in the development of health promotion concepts, implementation of these concepts in the service of health has always been far from stellar. Much of this has to do with Canada's liberal political economy and the recent further ascendance of neo-liberal approaches to public policymaking. These developments have combined with longstanding biomedical and epidemiological traditions in health policy to inhibit health promotion approaches that incorporate the principles and themes of the Ottawa Charter. Additionally, the emergence in Canada of population health as a competing–and displacing–discourse to health policy has further eroded health promotion's profile and presence. There is increasing interest in the social determinants of health concept, yet government spending, media attention, and health sector activities lavished on ‘lifestyle’ approaches to health promotion and the emergence of the ‘obesity epidemic’ as a focus of public, media, and health sector attention serves to further reinforce this dreary picture.