face=+Bold; Ottawa revives fitness agency to fight obesityface=-Bold;
By Michael Oliveira
TORONTO -- The non-profit fitness agency that for decades used television ads to encourage Canadians to 'keep fit and have fun' is coming out of retirement.
After laying dormant for more than five years with no funding, ParticipAction will relaunch in the spring with a modern message to help fight obesity, which is as bad as it's ever been, Federal Health Minister Tony Clement said Monday.
'We all remember the ads ... they resonated for years after the fact and so that's the kind of thing we want to see happen again,' Clement said.
The group's board of directors hopes to modernize ParticipAction while at the same time retaining those elements of the program that made it so successful, he added.
'There were a number of things that obviously worked well in the past that can be continued, but we're also in 2007, and what the board has really promoted is the idea that there are some things ... that perhaps are (more) relevant to today.'
Founded in 1971, ParticipAction was touted as an inexpensive way to fight the rising cost of health care. After decades of campaigns that made it a household name, the program ended in 2001 when the governing Liberals cut off its $350,000 annual funding.
ParticipAction is now being bankrolled with $5 million and will focus on kids 12 and under, as well as at-risk groups like seniors, aboriginals and the disabled.
Conspicuous by their absence, however, are the two people most Canadians have come to associate with ParticipAction: the grinning, gregarious hosts of those ubiquitous Body Break television spots, Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod.
The husband-and-wife team worked with ParticipAction for nearly 30 years, promoting physical fitness and a healthy diet in short, snappy television commercials with the tagline, 'keep fit and have fun.'
In an interview Monday, however, Johnson said he hasn't heard from anyone associated with ParticipAction for the last six years.
'No one from the government or from any agency has ever called us or sent us an e-mail or anything like that -- and we're not that tough to get a hold of,' he said.
The couple went on to start their own fitness company, also called Body Break, and never stopped producing their TV spots, which still air some 800 times a week in various markets across Canada. They're also seen every day in about 400 doctors' offices and 14 hospitals across the country.
But despite their growing business with products sold in Sears and Wal-Mart, Johnson said he'd still be willing to work with ParticipAction.
-- Canadian Press
