A tax on junk food, alcohol and tobacco to fund a national preventative health agency and programs to keep people healthy is the big idea of the by health experts at the 2020 summit. They stressed the need for a major boost in the share of the health dollar spent on keeping people out of hospitals, but to make the idea cost neutral, they opted to pass on the cost to consumers of products that unduly added to the burden of obesity, cancer, diabetes and injury – drink, fatty foods and cigarettes.

Spooner

Is that an illustration that the summit was about more about symbolism, less about substance? Or an example that the gathering was dominated by inner-city dwellers, many of whom have had a public platform to sprout their ideas “either in academic journals, parliament or newspaper columns. Was this an example of the ideas that indicated that the Summit was a gathering of the inexpert, the unqualified and the inexperienced?