Angry in the Great White North
Does this guy even know any kids?
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 11:24 PM

Read other posts by Steve Janke published by the National Post
Leader

Some people are pointing out that Prime Minister Stephen Harper seems to enjoy soft drinks, and that he has a bit of a bulge:

On Tuesday, the front pages of Canadian newspapers featured a photograph of Harper as he looked at his food tray holding a can of pop, while most others drank water when he sat down to a mess hall meal with Canadian troops in Kandahar. Other candid pictures showed his shirt straining against the visible spare tire around his middle.

Well, apparently this is serious!

Dr. Paul Boisvert, co-ordinator for educational activities for the Merck Frosst/Canadian Institutes of Health Research chair in obesity at Laval University, said it's difficult to gauge the prime minister's eating habits and what affect they have on his weight, but that his image could have a negative impact.

"It's not a good example,'' he said.

Evidence that pop and other sweetened drinks are a significant factor in weight gain has been mounting in recent months. A Boston-based study published in Pediatrics last week showed that teens who drank a can of pop a day gained up to 6.4 kilograms a year compared to those who didn't.

OK, I don't know that many teens, but all the ones I do know in the neighbourhood are:

  1. Entirely unaware that Stephen Harper has a spare tire
  2. Entirely unaware of Stephen Harper

Frankly, I'm more worried about the second point than the first point, but in any case, teens are not likely to be affected whatsoever by the prime minister's choice in beverage, unless, that is, Stephen Harper became a finalist on some rock star reality show.

For that matter, if you want reality, here's some reality. The prime minister is a middle-aged father of two, and he's a bit squishy in the middle. Most middle-aged fathers are. Not all of us have been blessed with my rock hard abs so well-defined you could grate cheese on them.

Is it Stephen Harper's job to promote a healthy lifestyle?

Boisvert said it's clear Harper has an image to protect and that Canadians need politicians or other high-profile figures to promote healthy lifestyles, similar to the work done by former U.S. president Bill Clinton after he underwent heart surgery.

"I'm sure if we have more politicians that come as an icon, that will certainly help,'' he said. "That is a good example. That is something that we need.''

Of course some liberal-types believe that the government should use its coercive power to do even more:

Results of the study prompted British Columbia's Childhood Obesity Foundation to launch a campaign against sugary drinks and other junk food. The group wants the government to treat junk food like tobacco and place a tax on it to deter people from consuming it.

"We need to get that message out and to convince government that they can't passively hope that people get the message,'' Dr. Tom Warshawski, head of pediatrics at the Kelowna General Hospital, and chair of the foundation, told the media.

Why should the government treat soft drinks as junk food? The government doesn't drink. People do. Parents understand that a soft drink consists of empty calories. It shouldn't require punitive taxes to cause them not to give these drinks to young children.

Obviously for a lot of people, the urge to go to the government for solutions is still very strong. Hopefully a few firm but polite refusals to get involved by this governemtn will teach these people to solve the problem themselves.

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