Building convergence : Favoriser la convergence : vers une stratégie intégrée en matière de santé et d'agroalimentaire pour le Canada : un document de travail

We acknowledge the foresight and contribution of the members of the McGill World Platform for Health and Economic Convergence and of the McGill Health Challenge Think Tanks. [...] In December 2007, following the presentation of CAPI’s synthesis report,1 the Institute received support from Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to pursue the groundwork for the establishment of an Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada. [...] A Discussion Paper as the Springboard for an Integrated Health and Agri-Food Strategy for Canada The McGill World Platform for Health and Economic Convergence follows a long-term collaboration between the Desautels Faculty of Management and the Faculty of Medicine to create a novel transdisciplinary, multi-sector and multi-level approach to science, policy, education, and action. [...] For example, as the obesity epidemic and diet-related non-communicable diseases spread through the world, the share of the health care costs attributed to unhealthy eating is estimated to be more than CAD $6 billion per year.2 Meanwhile, the growth and profitability of Canadian farms and businesses in the agriculture and agri-food system have shrunk to levels that threaten the financial viability [...] He performed an economic and econometric longitudinal analysis of the relationship of these policies with food sales and the nutritional quality of diets in the European Union (EU).42 The results of an analysis of the European diet over the past 40 years show that the degree to which the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) impacts diet patterns – and whether the impact is positive or negative –