OTTAWA B.C. Conservative MP John Weston, his fitness instructor wife Donna, and their three soccer-playing kids all have black belts in tae-kwon-do.

When Weston arrived in Ottawa as a rookie MP in 2008, one of the first things he did after noticing the unhealthy lifestyle of many MPs was to set up a program to encourage parliamentarians from all parties to swim, run or walk once or twice a week.

On Monday, the 54-year-old, Mandarin-speaking, Harvard-educated, marathon-running lawyer went a step further with the introduction of a private members bill to create a National Health and Fitness Day.

Westons bill calls on municipal governments to provide free or reduced-rate access to their fitness centres the first Saturday of June each year.

His goal is to create the fittest nation on earth a tall order given that the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development says Canada has one of the highest obesity rates in the western world.

And just last week, Statistics Canada reported that 31.5 per cent of Canadians between ages five and 17 are overweight or obese.

Excess weight among children leads to diabetes, high blood pressure, and thickening of the arteries in adulthood, West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast MP Weston said at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday.

This is the first generation of Canadians who will die at a younger age than their parents, he said, according to a copy of his prepared statement.

Weston told reporters his proposed bill is about fitness, not fatness.

We are not creating a National Skinny Day. My wife Donna, a fitness instructor, likes to tell me Im way too thin. And, while some people may see losing weight as an end in itself, todays initiative is not about that.

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B.C. MP calls for National Health and Fitness Day