BORIS JOHNSON: Forget the scare stories about hormone treated beef: we’ve killed our free-trade deal with Canada out of fear of the EU. It’s time the government truly championed Brexit [Video]

12:08 EDT 19 Apr 2024, updated 15:13 EDT 19 Apr 2024

I was in Canada the other day, and it struck me the Canadians are an enviably healthy bunch. They live about a year longer, on average, than we do — a whole year.

I suppose they lead a fairly active life. They play a lot of ice hockey. They ski and they canoe. But the doctors would probably say it was their diet, so I have researched the matter.

It’s not just the waffles and maple syrup that distinguish the Canadian diet from our own. It’s the beef. They eat almost three times as much beef as we do, in that the average Canuck gorges him or herself on 4st 6lb of beef per year. The average Brit can afford only 1st 7lb of beef per year.

I am not going to claim that this Canadian longevity is solely a function of their beef habit. I will not draw a …