Is ParticipACTION about to make a comeback?

A prominently placed ad in the Globe and Mail says the now-defunct federal fitness awareness program is seeking a chief executive officer to "re-launch" the campaign.

The not-for-profit program began in the early 1970s and for three decades produced a series of television advertisements promoting healthy living and exercise — including one well-known 1973 spot that compared the fitness of a 60-year-old Swede with that of a 30-year-old Canadian.

The previous Liberal government killed ParticipACTION in 2001, which at the time had a budget of $350,000. 

There has been talk in the House of Commons recently about bringing back the program in order to take aim at soaring obesity rates across the country. 

Ontario's Health Promotions Minister Jim Watson said in June that he wanted Ottawa to bring back the program. In September, then federal sports minister Michael Chong said that revitalizing ParticipACTION was figuring into his government's plans.

"Remember ParticipACTION?" asks the advertisement, sporting the program's familiar logo. "You'll have the chance to re-launch it."

The time has come… again

The ad says the original campaign "sounded a wake-up call to the sedentary lifestyle of far too many Canadians. A 60-year-old Swede with the same fitness level as a 30-year-old Canadian? It's happening again. The time has come to get Canadians of all ages out of their chairs and away from their refrigerators."

It says the organization is looking for an "entrepreneurial leader, compelling speaker and strategic thinker" who will "whip [the program] back into shape and get it ready to take on the majority of Canadians who are overweight and insufficiently active."

Not everyone has been receptive to bringing back ParticipACTION. In September, Health Department bureaucrats told the Globe that the program is a waste of millions of dollars.

The Globe said the proposal by the private non-profit board which holds the rights to the ParticipACTION logo, would need $446,000 for the initial two-month startup period. By the 2009-10 fiscal year, the initiative would need more than $5 million from Ottawa toward a proposed budget of $24 million, with the private sector footing the rest of the bill.

In June, Watson, while launching a $10-million action plan for healthy eating and active living for Ontario, said he would ask Health Minister Tony Clement to revive ParticipACTION.

"When I mention ParticipACTION, people's eyes light up," Watson said. "[The ads] were fun. They were quirky — not preachy — and they got people thinking about fitness."