TORONTO — Canadians are being asked to help define a set of public health goals aimed at preventing big-ticket chronic diseases and taking pressure off the country's health-care system.

The program, to be announced Tuesday in Winnipeg, will begin with a series of cross-Canada consultations among public health experts and a wide range of groups concerned with promoting healthy lifestyles, said Carolyn Bennett, federal minister of state for public health.

The hope is that those taking part in the meetings -- including seniors' representatives, anti-poverty activists, environmentalists and teachers -- will then convene their own round-table discussions with other participants, Bennett said Monday from Ottawa.

"We hope that that will then cascade out,'' she said in an interview, adding that another arm of the program would involve gathering opinions from citizens in town hall-type meetings held by MPs and members of provincial legislatures in their home ridings.

The roots of good health are widespread -- from having clean air, a well-balanced diet, a safe place to live and a decent standard of living to education and family support and community involvement.

"I think that Canadians get it -- that smog days cost our health-care system a great deal of money, that people understand that poor people don't live as long. I think as Canadians that we understand that the gap in health status for aboriginal people goes against Canadian values. So how do we set a course, and how do we listen to Canadians to let them let us know what it really is going to take to keep as many Canadians healthy for as long as possible?

"We're trying to figure out how we can actually mobilize Canadians into putting the `health' back into health care.''

Bennett and co-chair Theresa Oswald, Manitoba's minister of healthy living, will begin the round-table meetings Tuesday in Winnipeg, followed by Toronto on Wednesday; Regina, Thursday; Edmonton, Friday; and Prince George, B.C., on Sunday. Meetings in Eastern Canada will take place the last week of April.

As well, individuals can voice their views via a website, www.healthycanadians.ca, which will include an online survey, questionnaire and video.

"We want to hear from everybody as to their instincts of what it is that makes a population healthy,'' said Bennett, noting that Ottawa has dedicated $2 million to $3 million for obtaining Canadians' input.

The decision to come up with a set of public health goals -- Bennett said 10 is a number being bandied about -- came out of September's first ministers' meeting on health care.

She and Oswald hope to be "done listening'' by the end of June, and have the goals down on paper for the first ministers' meeting slated for this fall.

"Most provinces already have plans in the works about what they're going to do to stem the tide of chronic disease (such as diabetes),'' Oswald said from Winnipeg. "It's going to help them pursue the initiatives that they have.''

Once the guidelines are decided on, said Bennett, the next step is to align federal policies and health-care dollars in ways that promote health.

"It's about keeping well, as opposed to fixing people when they're sick.''