Leader

The Leader of the Health Promotion Party of Canada (HPPC) is David Carmichael. He holds a masters degree in physical and health education from York University (1985).

David was inspired to form the HPPC with echo baby boomers after the Federal Health Agency of Canada forced 10 national physical activity organizations to meet in Ottawa on January 14, 2010 to decide how they were going to split the grossly insufficient $800,000 that was budgeted for the 2010/2011 fiscal year to get Canadians more physically active - which is less than .002% of the estimated $45 billion the federal government spent on health care in 2009.

In the last 20 years, David has been the director of national projects at ParticipACTION (1998 to 2001), director of research and development at the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (1989 to 1998) and high performance director at the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Association (1988 to 1991).

After ParticipACTION closed its doors in 2001 (resurrected in 2006), David was a:

• Province-wide facilitator for the development of Community Sport Councils for the Sport Alliance of Ontario (2001 to 2004).
• Course conductor on Long-Term Athlete Development for Levels 4/5 of the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) for the Coaching Association of Canada and the National Coaching Institute Ontario (1988 to 1991/1999 to 2004).
• Manager of Let’s Get Moving!, a community-based campaign of the Canadian Professional Coaches Association that fostered multi-sector collaboration in support of Quality Daily Physical Education (QDPE) and promoted the need for community based, participant-centred recreation and sport programs for all children and youth (2001 to 2004). 
• Facilitator for the development of Innovative Participation Projects that foster positive sport experiences with Ontario Special Olympics, Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association, RowOntario, Softball Ontario, Ontario Cerebral Palsy Sports Association, Ontario Volleyball Association, Gymnastics Ontario, and the Ontario Speed Skating Association (2003 and 2004).

In July 2004, his career came to an abrupt end 3 weeks after he started taking the popular antidepressant Paxil to treat the symptoms of major depression. He has recovered from his mental health family tragedy and is rebuilding his life with his wife and daughter, other family members, friends, and former colleagues.

Since 2006, David has:

• Set up a personal website to help prevent antidepressant-related suicidal and homicidal tragedies - www.davidcarmichael.com (2006).
• Completed a review of literature titled "Exercising Serotonin", which demonstrates that physical activity is an effective non-drug treatment option for depression, particularly for mild and moderate depression (2007) - download paper
• Created a free anonymous online support group for people suffering from depression with information about treatment options, antidepressant warnings, a message board and a chat room - and no advertising www.depressionsufferers.com (2008).
  
• Taught more than 150 young people - most of them high-risk youth from low income families ˆ how to wakeboard in a free program on the St. Lawrence River for 5- to 25-year-olds in Downtown Brockville, Ontario (2008-2009).
• Developed a 60-minute presentation about the mental health system titled "Questions, Questions, Questions: We Have the Right to Know" for consumers of psychotropic drugs, families dealing with mental illnesses, human rights advocates and mental health professionals (2009).
  
• Published a paper titled "KILLER SIDE EFFECTS: What GlaxoSmithKline Does Not Seem to Want Anyone to Know About Paxil" (2009) - download paper.
• Completed a review of literature titled "Benefits of Providing SPORT 4 ALL YOUTH: Evidence that quality youth sport programs that remove the participation barriers of cost and transportation will help reduce crime, drug use, depression, and obesity (2009)" - download paper.
• Developed a 15-minute presentation titled Taking Our Health Back from Big Pharma Controlled Governments (2010).