Éric Duhaime intends to oblige all children to do a minimum of 30 minutes of physical education every day, preferably in the morning, from kindergarten to the end of high school.
The Conservative leader released a six-point preventive health policy on Monday, of which compulsory physical education at school is the flagship measure.
He also suggests, among other things, allowing physicians to prescribe physical activity to all their patients and to refer them to fitness professionals for follow-up.
It also proposes eliminating the QST on all expenses related to physical activity such as the purchase of sports equipment or gym membership, for example.
Finally, he sees himself creating “national sports teams which will inspire young people to practice sports and which would fund promising young athletes with scholarships and sponsorships”.
Mr. Duhaime made these proposals to the PEPS of Laval University in the company of Arnaud Gascon-Nadon, a former glory of the Rouge et Or de Laval and former player of the Canadian Football League who wore the colors of the Tiger-Cats of Hamilton, the Edmonton Eskimos and the Ottawa Redblacks, with whom he won the Gray Cup in 2016.
Always sanitary measures
The Conservative leader has been very vocal about the negative effects of children’s physical inactivity during the pandemic. He accuses Prime Minister François Legault of all wrongs because of his management of the health crisis, which remains his hobbyhorse.
“We will follow the Legault government on the impact of its abusive health measures on Quebec youth,” he said in a press release.
“It is simply unacceptable what he has done to them over the past two years, in a crucial period of their lives, when we forge the adult we will become,” he said. he declared, thus implying that the CAQ government is primarily responsible for the current state of health of children in Quebec.
Despite everything, he cites in his press release studies showing that the health of Quebecers “has been deteriorating for the past 30 years”, but insists on those which report the negative effects of confinements and is alarmist by invoking other studies “which left hear that up to 60% of young people today will be obese by 2040”.