More urban green space could drastically improve Quebecers' health: coalition of 125 doctors

Montreal — A coalition of 125 doctors is calling on the Quebec government to invest in creating significantly more green space in cities, saying it would dramatically improve the health of Quebecers and save the province a bundle on health care costs.

The doctors say that on average Quebec cities have 10 to 20 per cent of their space dedicated to greenery, but if that was increased to 40 per cent, the effects on Quebecers' health would be striking. Those improvements would include:

Devoting 40 per cent of city space to greenery would also contribute to decreasing symptoms of ADHD, slowing down cognitive decline, reducing social isolation and crime, increasing academic performance by students and worker productivity, and combating heat islands and climate change, the coalition says.

The coalition also estimates that Quebec spends around $26-billion in health costs related to the above conditions, and that the health improvements they say would be brought about by investing more in green space could save the province a significant amount of those costs.

The coalition is calling on the Quebec government to invest an additional $170 million a year - an amount it says represents just one per cent of the province's spending on public infrastructure - to create green new green space in cities throughout the province.