Ontario has a long way to go to become the healthiest province in the country, say researchers from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), who found that British Columbia is the healthiest province in the country.

The ICES report found there are a number of reasons Ontario is lagging, some of them pertaining to poor lifestyle and others due to gaps in the health system.

Compared to the leading provinces, Ontario's health behaviour is worse, government health targets are lower, and fewer resources are allocated to improving health behaviours related to smoking, physical activity, diet and obesity, says Dr. Doug Manuel, the study's principal investigator and ICES researcher.

"Quebec was identified as a leader, not because their health is better than Ontario but because their health is rapidly improving," he said in a news release.

"Quebec's life expectancy will surpass Ontario's within the next 10 to 15 years, for the first time since life expectancy has been recorded in Canada."

The report found that:

• 21 per cent of Ontarians are daily or occasional smokers. That compares to 18 per cent in B.C. and 20 per cent in Manitoba.
• Ontario ranks fourth in the country for physical activity, with 53 per cent of the population being active. That's behind B.C., Alberta and the Northwest Territories/Nunavut/Yukon. Being regularly active is defined as taking part in more than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity each day.
• More than 14 per cent of Ontarians are obese with a BMI of 30 or higher. B.C. has the lowest obesity rate at 12.6 per cent, followed by Quebec at 13.4 per cent.
• While Ontario has the second highest life expectancy at 80.7 years, that's still behind B.C. at 81.2 years.

In order for Ontario to match British Columbia's health targets by the 2015, the ICES researchers say the following must happen:

• The smoking rate has to drop to less than 15 per cent.
• More than 73 per cent of Ontarians need to become regularly physically active.
• The overweight or obese rate as measured by Body Mass Index (BMI) must drop to below 32 per cent.
• Government must invest at least an additional $165 million per year into programs aimed at improving health behaviours related to smoking, physical activity, diet and obesity.

Manuel's report notes that Quebec has become a national leader in improving overall population health because over the past two decades, the province has instigated major and sustained efforts to improve population health behaviours.

"This has allowed Quebec to pull ahead of many other provinces in terms of residents' life expectancy," the report notes.

Compared to Ontario, both Quebec and British Columbia and Quebec are spending more per capita on health improvement programs. B.C. is currently investing about three times as much as Ontario and Quebec twice as much.

ICES is a non-profit organization that uses population-based health information to produce reports on a broad range of health care issues affecting Ontario and Canadian resdients.