Premier targets own bad habits
Smokes, drinks, but says exercise keeps him healthyROBERT WALKER
Calgary Herald
and RICK PEDERSEN
Journal Staff WriterPremier Ralph Klein says he drinks the equivalent of a bottle of wine and smokes five cigarettes a day.
But Klein told reporters Friday he exercises regularly and is working on improving his lifestyle.
"I run three good miles every day in about 24 minutes. I exercise religiously. But I do that to offset my sins -- and just to make sure I won't be here," Klein said at the opening of a $7.2-million expansion of a Calgary cancer centre.
"I am trying all the time (to cut down). But I'll tell you I lead a pretty different lifestyle to a lot of people. I am out practically every night at functions."
For the second time in two days Klein said that as many as 70 per cent of all illness is caused by unhealthy lifestyles. And he announced the government is working with the province's doctors on a program to educate people about improving their own health.
But he jokingly admitted he has some ways to go with his own lifestyle.
"Don't do all the things that I do -- except for the exercise," Klein said.
"I have cut down a lot. I am down to about five cigarettes on a normal day," Klein admitted, adding "with my lifestyle (I drink) about the equivalent of a bottle of wine a day."
One high-profile health professional said Friday there is no evidence in public health literature to support Klein's claim that 70 per cent of illness is self-inflicted.
Dr. Tom Noseworthy, head of Public Health Sciences at the University of Alberta, said the premier has his facts wrong.
"This smacks of blaming the victim," said Noseworthy.
"Will bungee jumpers be asked to pay for emergency treatment if they hit bottom," asked Noseworthy. "Are we going to stop paying for overdose patients?
"What about two-pack-a-day smokers? Are you going to deinsure their surgery and chemotherapy for lung cancer? It begins to worry me.
"A health care system is supposed to be compassionate. I don't think Ralph's views are in synch with the values of the people of the country."
Edmonton heart surgeon Dr. Dennis Modry defended the premier.
Modry, a long-standing member of the PC party of Alberta's finance committee, has cited the same 70-per-cent figure himself in a series of public speeches and in a paper published by the Fraser Institute, a Vancouver-based conservative think tank.
Even if the estimate is too high, Modry said it is still clear medicare pays huge amounts of money to treat illnesses caused by risky behavior like smoking or substance abuse and dangerous activities.
Modry turned Noseworthy's deinsurance examples around, suggesting medicare fails to discourage unhealthy practices like smoking.
Why not charge smokers extra for health-care coverage, he asked, then non-smokers would be rewarded for taking care of their health.
If people take up bungee jumping, Modry said they should buy extra medical insurance to cover the risk.
Klein's lifestyle confession prompted some carefully chosen words from Calgary's medical officer of health, Dr. Brent Friesen.
"An ideal lifestyle for the premier would be not to be smoking at all," said Friesen.
"He should continue with his very active exercise program, make sure his diet is consistent with the Canadian food guidelines and rather than a bottle of wine he should consider a glass of wine a day."
But Friesen complimented Klein on continuing his efforts to improve his own lifestyle and promote a province-wide wellness program. "The government's commitment to prevention and wellness is commendable," he said.
Asked for examples of ways to prevent disease and promote wellness, Klein cited quitting smoking, reducing domestic violence and obesity and avoiding traffic accidents.