Actions to reduce health inequalities in Canada

One of the features of their leadership has been the capacity to connect the initiatives, creatively, presciently and convincingly, to public policy priorities and in doing so, to carry the initiatives forward with a mandate that has been endorsed by and serves the broader interests of the community. [...] Stewardship of the Strategy has been assured by the strong personal endorsement of the Premier and the establishment of a Ministerial Committee to provide oversight to the implementation. [...] However, it was of the view that there has been little attention given within the business community to the importance of addressing health issues, that the participants of this global dialogue were largely public health experts, and that the insights from this dialogue had yet to begin to find their way into public discourse and into the health policy of many governments or into the thinking of b [...] The Roundtable affords an opportunity to engage businesses of all varieties to understand the importance of improving health outcomes by addressing the determinants of health; to strengthen their capacity to make a tangible commitment to population health; and to work collaboratively with government, other businesses and communities on issues pertaining both to the health care system and to the so [...] The legislation confirmed the importance of the public health functions associated with health promotion, prevention, surveillance and protection, and called for the engagement of all sectors of government and society in developing public policies to improve population health and to reduce health disparities.