The government of Canada is getting serious about encouraging Canadians to live healthier lifestyles. They’ve announced working from the root of the problem, by revising the Food Guide and implementing Healthy Eating Initiatives.

Jane Philpott, Miniter of Health Canada’s plans to start a process that reflects evidence on diet and health. In addition to the Food Guide revision, Health Canada at the same time has announced that they will launch a consultation with Canadians. The consultation is an open questionnaire presented the general public available till December 8th on the Health Canada website. The information provided through the questionnaire will allow the updated Food Guide to better reflect Canadians. It will also support more effective communication on nutrition to Canadians.

Here are some quick facts Health Canada has provided to keep in mind when dealing with patients while encouraging them to live healthier lifestyles.

Quick facts

– In Canada, four out of five Canadians risk developing conditions such as cancer, heart disease or Type 2 diabetes; six out of ten adults are overweight and one-third of youth are overweight or obese.

– Poor diet is the primary risk factor for obesity and many chronic diseases, and places a significant burden on the health of Canadians and our health care system.

– The annual economic burden of obesity in Canada is estimated in the billions of dollars.
Living a healthier lifestyle becomes easier with knowledge and the growth of every day habits, give confidence to your patients that it doesn’t have to be difficult.

Integrative Healthcare Symposium Annual Conference is around the corner, and this February New York City will host another year where diverse practitioners connect to learn and share practices. The event is an excellent opportunity every year to push forward the evidence-based, integrative approach to healthcare, and a place to gain information from top researchers through many different presentations.

If you’re considering joining the festivities here are some of the topics for 2017:

Nutritional Science

Not all calories are equal. Food is full of information, and so is this educational track. Attend it to enhance your knowledge of the gut, the human microbiome, the diet-neurodegeneration connection, cardiometabolic food plans, and emerging nutritional trends.
Integrative & Collaborative Approaches to Patient Care

Hear the latest expert thinking on mind, body, & mood; pain management, Alzheimer’s; brain injury, and the medical effects of stress.

Advancements in Practice Management

In sessions ranging from technical trainings to practical case study reviews, this track explores technologies and systems that have been proven to work. Topics include interdisciplinary practice models, public health, functional medicine, and digital tools for practices. (inspireclion.com)

Integrative Nursing Leadership

Join the movement — learn how to help more patients through integrative nursing. Sessions in this track include health coaching, epigenetics, energy healing, the power of meditation, and more.

Register today to take advantage of Early Bird rates while they are still available (now through November 18 at 11:59pm, EST)

Right now the natural health product industry is going through a battle to remain upholding the same safe and effective quality that exists today. In order to maintain the current standards of the Natural Health Product Regulations, Health Canada reviews all products, and their requirements place Canada’s regulatory system as one of the best in the world.

The battle begins as Health Canada is proposing to discard this effective system. The alternative they are looking to put in place would be that only products that are considered high risk, for example over the counter products would be under evaluation.

Allowing for vitamins, probiotics, herbal remedies, and traditional medicines to joining the market, without assurance of how safe they are.

To get involved and make your opinion known on how you feel about the matter, send a letter to your Member of Parliament. Many other impacts to the industry could happen along with the changes Health Canada is looking to implement, so it’s important to share this information with other practitioners to become more vocal.

Shoppers Drug Mart has applied to distribute medical marijuana.

While the pharmacy giant notes that permitting this would improve patient care, some industry experts suggest that users could face higher prices and have access to fewer strains of the plant.

Currently, federal regulations allow registered patients to buy cannabis directly from licensed producers, who mail the product to users. As such, Canada’s Shoppers won’t be permitted to sell medical marijuana in-store unless Ottawa rethinks the legislation.

The retailer has also applied to become a producer of cannabis. However, Tammy Smitham, a spokeswoman for Shoppers Drug Mart, says that the retailer has “no intention” of producing cannabis. Smitham notes that this application is merely an administrative requirement needed to distribute medical marijuana.

Recently, the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) has expressed that pharmacies should play a leading role in the distribution of medical marijuana.

Cannabis Canada says that adding a pharmacies to the equation could provide some benefits, allowing medical marijuana users to consult with their pharmacists in person. However, it may also raise prices and possibly create dispensing fees, according to Colette Rivet the executive director of Cannabis Canada.

With Shoppers making this bold move, independent pharmacists must consider the benefits of entering—or remaining separate from—this potentially lucrative business.

Metro Inc. is debuting online grocery services at three of its Greater Montreal Area stores. The retailer plans to expand the service into the Ontario market in the future.

The three stores introducing the program include Metro Plus Kirkland,

Metro Plus Ste-Rose, and Metro Plus Pie IX.

Employees have been trained to select only the freshest in-store products when filling orders. The selected products are then kept in a dedicated Tri-Zones area until they are picked up or delivered to clients.

“We have made every effort to ensure that customers make no compromise with respect to the freshness of the products selected, that they find all the products they are looking for online as they would in-store and that they receive their order at the most convenient moment for them,” notes Marc Giroux, senior vice-president of Metro.

The company has also integrated metro&moi, a loyalty program, into the service. “The members of the metro&moi loyalty program will save even more time because they will be able to add the products they buy frequently to their cart,” adds Gino Plevano, vice-president of digital strategy and loyalty. “They will also be able to use their personalized coupons as well as their rewards.”

During the first phase of the online program, Metro is making delivery available on the Island of Montreal in a selected area. After this test phase, Metro will decide how to deploy this in the rest of Quebec and in Ontario.

Pierre Charron, Metro Inc.’s vice-president of national procurement – grocery, has announced his retirement. Charron, who began his retailing career at Steinberg’s in 1978, has had 38 years of success in the industry.

“Through his great knowledge of the food sector and our suppliers, Pierre has contributed to Metro’s success in many ways,” says Metro, Inc. “Particularly, [he has ensured] the evolution and diversity of our product offering in order to meet our customers’ needs, supporting product innovation and positively impacting our profitability.”

Charron’s retirement will become effective as of December 15.

FMS Solutions Holdings LLC has brought on Mike Sharpe to lead its Canadian sales strategies.

Sharpe, an employee of the Sharpe’s Food Market family in Campbellford, Ont., is a third-generation grocer. This allows him to bring a unique, seasoned perspective to his work with FMS.

“I have lived and breathed the grocery industry since I was a child,” he says. “In 2014, we brought in FMS to help with our payroll and accounting. I was so impressed by the services that FMS provides to my family’s business that I joined their team with the intention of helping other independent grocers across Canada.”

“We’re very excited to have Mike on board,” says FMS vice-president Mark Ehleben. “Our goal is to prove to Canadian independents that with our accounting and payroll services, best practices, and benchmarking, they can be in a better position to thrive in a competitive industry. Mike is a great fit coming from grocery and knowing the unique challenges that Canadian independent grocers face.”

Located in Baltimore, Maryland, FMS provides more than 3,500 independent grocers with financial, accounting and consulting services such as industry benchmarking, best practices, and mission-critical decision support throughout the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean. With the addition of Sharpe, FMS has solidified its place as a leader of financial services to independent grocers in Canada.

According to a Globe and Mail report, the Competition Bureau has amped up its investigation of Loblaws’ pricing practices.

John Pecman, Commissioner of Competition at the Competition Bureau, has requested that the Federal Court force four of Loblaws’ key suppliers to produce sworn evidence about their dealings with the grocer. This will determine whether Loblaws activities could be anti-competitive when compared with the same dealings at key rival retailers. This comes nearly three years after the bureau launched its original investigation into Loblaw’s pricing practices.

Pecman believes that Loblaws may still be conducting some questionable practices, forcing suppliers to meet predetermined profit margins based on the advertised prices of competing retailers. The bureau is concerned about multiple Loblaw’s supplier programs, worrying that they are an abuse of its dominant industry position.

Pecman adds that many suppliers haven’t co-operated with the bureau for fear of retaliation by Loblaw. This has prompted the federal agency to seek court orders, forcing vendors to comply.

The four suppliers in question include General Mills, Wrigley, Reckitt Benckiser (Canada) Inc. and A. Lassonde Inc. The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers has called for a code of conduct to regulate grocer-supplier practices, although large retailers oppose such government intervention.

This week, the debate between Walmart Canada and Visa over merchant fees escalated once again. Now, the retail giant has stopped accepting Visa at its 16 Manitoba locations.

This follows Walmart’s mid-July refusal of Visa credit cards at its three stores in Thunder Bay, Ontario. At this time, the retailer argued that the financial services firm charges too much in service fees to merchants. However, Visa says it offered Walmart one of the lowest rates for any merchant in the country.

In June, Walmart announced that it would expand its phase-out of Visa to all of its Canadian stores. However, it is unclear which locations will come next.

The Retail Council of Canada notes that the average merchant fee of 1.5 per cent charged by Visa and MasterCard is higher than rates charged in other countries.The council has called on the federal government to review the situation, intervene, and lower fees for all merchants.

The review will take into account the impact of Visa and MasterCard’s recent voluntary fee reductions, the adoption of a code of conduct for the country’s credit and debit card industry, and approaches in other jurisdictions.

As of now, 19 Walmart locations have stopped accepting Visa across the country: three in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and 16 in Manitoba.