Should fit be free in Toronto?

Should health and fitness be something only available to those that can afford to pay?

Contemplating the future of Toronto and the call for ideas, a friend recently pointed me in the direction of the Guardian’s Public Services Awards 2009. The overall winner of last year’s award was the City Council of Birmingham for their Gym for Free project.

It’s so big, so bold… It’s probably not the kind of idea anyone in our now "have not" province or city wants to allow themselves to dream about. But if Birmingham can do it, why not us?

You see, on Valentine’s Day 2008, Birmingham City Council and the public health trust (part of the National Health Service, I gather) partnered up to send an invitation to the residents of the Ladywood District, offering every household free use of civic recreation facilities in return for attending four times a month.

Within seven months, the number of Ladywood residents using public gyms on a regular basis had skyrocketed from just 90 to more than 6,500. The project was so successful, so quickly, that Birmingham has now extended the project to the entire city of 1.1 million residents.

Why does this matter?

Ladywood is one of the most depressed districts in Britain, where most people are too worried about feeding their families to spend precious dollars on gym memberships.

There’s not room here to go into everything to be learned from Gym for Free, but suffice to say that along with the myriad health benefits, the project aims to build social cohesion. It gets people talking, sharing experience. Furthermore, the economic benefits -- particularly in the longer term as they see reduced health costs -- will be significant.

Look, I don’t think that a parks and rec fee increase is the number one issue of this election. But that’s because I live downtown, with lots of access to gyms and recreation centres, and have some disposable income to spend on those things. And when I compare the cost of using city facilities with the cost of private gyms and private lessons, those fee increases still don’t look so bad.

But at the end of the day, shouldn’t all families have access to good facilities and supports? Some families may need an extra hand or incentive to take advantage.

Like Ladywood and Birmingham, there are real health inequalities in our city. In 2008 Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health released a frightening report, “The Unequal City." The report illustrates the impact of Toronto’s health inequalities by showing what would happen if everyone was as healthy as those with the highest income:like, 1,300 fewer low birth weight babies, and nearly 1,600 more children ready to learn at school entry.

It’s pretty clear the City of Toronto needs to think big. We need to reduce poverty, and close the gap on health inequalities.

So along with the Do the Math Campaign, ask the provincial government to immediately introduce a $100/month health food supplement for all adults on social assistance, and set up a process to set rates based on what it actually costs to live a healthy, frugal, dignified life in Ontario -- let’s look at offering more and better services that will help keep residents healthy.

If Birmingham can think big and bold, why can’t we?

About Marit Stiles

Comments

[tiiuu]

I work and earn a moderate income, why can't I get free this and that? Just because I choose to work? In Toronto we only have the rich with their accountants and lawyers and the poor with their social workers/guardians. What about the rest of us? Are we only entitled to pay taxes and work ourselves to the bone?

[Dom]

It should be run by Walmart.

[Keith]

Stallone did not need a fancy gym in Rocky IV, his training was free as well. Maybe we could just send all those who cant run outdoors in Toronto to northern Russia

[A. Kralik]

The thing that I truly don't understand is all the frivolous dressing some of the City of Toronto pools are getting, while closing down some others in need of repair or just simply not funding certain schools such as for example Keele public school that has a very nice pool and used to be open to the public. Why is the City not interested in keeping as many pools open and functional, and instead stop this insanity of installing slides and other toys in certain pools. People deserve to have both indoor and outdoor pools to go to and to make as many accesible as possible. We need much better planning from our City of Toronto.

[mike]

rec fees are very low and affordable already. ANd if you cant afford there are programs to help you afford it. Toronto has the LOWEST user fees in the GTA. It blows my mind when people talk about Torontos user fees being to much. If you want to exercise then the opportunity is there

[Jack R]

Old adage.

Something freely given....has no value.

[Mike]

why does everyone feel they need to go to the gym to get and stay fit. Take a freakin' walk for crying out loud!

[Todd R]

I think it is a fantastic idea. This would be one of those situation where a little bit of investments on the gvt's part would have tons of money saved by the MOH. But, like other people who commented on here, I am unwilling to pay yet another tax to support it. These increases in old taxes, and introduction of new taxes, will make the rest of us unhealthy...

[T]

it would really cool if there were some pull up bars and such at parks and along trails n stuff.

[andrew e]

Hey deadbeats, google "calisthenics" and remember that you don't even need special shoes to get out and walk.

[B]

The benefits exceed physical health. Those families who are involved in recreation are less reliant on social assistance, make less trips to walk in clinics and emergency wards and make less 911 calls. A small investment goes a long way. We want adults to be role models for thier kids. If parents exercise, so will children. Additionally, kids involved in recreation have fun, make friend, do better in school, have positive role models, increase self esteem, build on skills (or learn something new) and are more healthy (to name only a few benefits). Don't we want that for our future?

[Daniel]

I have been saying this for many years, if people don't get proper work outs aren't WE paying anyway with their health care? If people are healthy they tend to not go to the doctor and get injuries. But there are already many health programs available for free people, just won't go. I bet that 90% of people that join health clubs never go and work out, they do it so they can say to their wife and friends, I belong to X club. I have not done any research but I bet we would save a lot in the long run if people were healthy by working out regularly. But in these times I doubt if that would come about but do think it would be a good start maybe just a few clubs but I think the YMCA already offers such services to those who cannot afford it, for free.
Daniel .... Toronto
http://bit.ly/jgk9h7

[JT]

There's no such thing as a free gym. Even if you don't have to pay a fee like you do at private gyms, you will have to pay for it in the form of a tax. It costs money to run and maintain a gym - where do people think that money will come from? It'll come from the taxpayers. We're already taxed enough (far more than we should be). And those of us that already pay for a gym membership will end up paying twice - once for the membership we already pay for, and once for the tax to cover the free gyms. Why do people not exercise? There are many reasons (laziness, they claim not to have the time, they procrastinate and keep saying "I'll do it tomorrow", etc), but the primary reason people don't exercise is not because they can't afford it. There are already many ways to get free exercise. Go for a brisk walk. Go for a jog. Do some pushups or situps. Walk up and down a flight of stairs several times. Go for a swim (there are numerous "free" community pools around already).

[greg]

Excercise is a habit, and it takes some comittment and discipline to maintain this habit. Lets be honest here. Not every problem can be solved by more money or writing a cheque to someone. Is this the canadian way of dealing with an issue, we must do better ? Excercise should be encouraged as a way of life. Their are people who have a lot of resources but still live unhealthy lifestyles and are very inactive, while at the same time their are many people who have significantly less that have better fitness routines. Even in developing countries you will find that they have less but are more active out of necessity.

The way to solve the problem is not by giving everyone on social assistance $100 but by a good old fashioned public relations campaign especially targeting youth, encouraging them to adopt the habit of proper excercise.

No facilities are needed to stay in shape, 1 hour of physical activity a day ( running, walking, skipping etc ) is all that is needed. Id even support the idea of giving everyone on soc. assist. a bicycle and hope they do not sell it, but that is not politically correct now is it?

We have so many green areas, trails and parks in this city we should encourage people to use it. The issue of healthy food is another, maybe we should avoid putting public housing in areas where the only grocery stores that can afford the real estate is the high end ones such as Sobeys, Metro and Longos, or maybe healthier food should be subsidised (no HST for example) so that everyone can benefit. How about no tax on fresh fruits and veggies, milk and beans. It's not just those on social assistance who struggle with paying for healthy food choices.

If we want Canada to be healthier then I believe that these are good places to start.

[greg]

to add, one of the statistics that help gyms stay profitable is that most members pay for gym membership but rarely ever go to the gym after January ( New Years resolution more than likely). This is why the gym try to lock you into a 12 month period or 18, they know the odds are that you will only use on average once or twice a month. Its ironic that when one goes to the gym we tend to do things that we can easily do while home.

[nfl]

Keep up with the good work. Love your program