It’s true. The government thinks we are all bad parents because we let our kids play too much Xbox.

At least that’s the message coming from ParticipACTION, an agency which, according to its website, has the government-mandated mission to be “the national voice of physical activity and sport participation in Canada.”

Translation: it nags Canadians with costly PR campaigns to be more “active.”

The federal government created ParticipACTION because it determined, probably on the basis of some massively expensive academic study, that Canadians are too fat, too lazy and need to be whipped into shape.

At any rate, ParticipACTION is now using TV spots to lecture parents about kid fitness.

The message of the campaign is clear: If your kids are not getting 60 minutes of activity per day, every day, you must be a terrible parent, whose kids will probably end up as contestants on The Biggest Loser.

In response, we parents have two choices. We can either buy a stop watch to ensure our children are active for the government-sanctioned time period, or we can tell ParticipACTION to mind its own busINESS.

I would heartily recommend the latter option.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am all for physical fitness.

And I think it’s a good idea for kids to be active.

But I don’t believe its government’s role to insult my physique or to harangue me about making sure my kid’s activity levels are adequate.

That’s my wife’s job. And I know a lot of people won’t agree with me on this.

They will point out that since we have a socialist health care system, the government must do everything it can to encourage fitness.

After all, if as a result of my sedentary lifestyle, I develop coronary artery disease, the cost of treatment will be borne by the taxpayer.

It’s a compelling argument to be sure, but also a flawed one.

In the first place, government ad campaigns designed to alter human behaviour never work.

If you doubt it, just recall the “One Tonne Challenge.”

The One Tonne Challenge was a public ad campaign unleashed about seven years ago that was supposed to convince Canadians to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne.

The challenge had a $45 million budget, lots of slick TV ads and even a celebrity spokesman, Rick Mercer.

Yet, despite the money, despite Mercer, despite the green trendiness of the cause, the One Tonne Challenge was a one tonne flop.

Anyway, the point I am making is this: I highly doubt many Canadians will put down their cheeseburgers and french fries, and take up marathon running because of some cutesy-wutesy government TV ad.

In other words, ParticipACTIONstyle campaigns don’t improve fitness, they just waste a lot of tax dollars.

Secondly and more importantly, do we really want the state, even in the name of public health, to stick its nose into how we run our lives?

Keep in mind, it won’t just stop with annoying TV ad campaigns.

In fact, there is already talk about government taxing or even banning certain fast foods.

And if that doesn’t work, what will the government do next in the name of public health: force us at gunpoint to do callisthenics; impose “obesity taxes” on anyone weighing more than 200 pounds; ban risky activities such as skiing?

It’s a slippery slope that will erode our individual freedoms.

As American columnist Jacob Sullum once noted, government should not be about “protecting people from their own decisions.”

Besides, given the size of the bloated federal deficit, maybe the government should worry about its fat, not ours.