2026 Fitness Industry Policy Outlook: Advocacy Priorities with FIC’s Zach Weston

What advocacy priorities will shape the fitness industry in 2026?

In this episode of All Things Fitness and Wellness, host Krissy Vann sits down with Zach Weston, Executive Director of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC), the national nonprofit representing roughly 7,000 facilities and seven million members across the country. While today’s conversation spotlights Canada, the themes reflect the globalpressures facing every operator, policymaker, and industry leader.

From preventive health legislation to affordability barriers and consolidation across North America, this episode breaks down the key advocacy questions defining the path to 2026.

We explore:
• Top advocacy wins from 2025 and what they signal moving forward
• How Canada is approaching preventive health policy and why it matters globally
• The push to reach inactive and underserved populations through policy
• Tax incentives, affordability, and the impact of legislation like the PHIT Act
• Where healthcare–fitness integration is gaining traction
• How consolidation may reshape the sector in 2026
• What operators across the U.S. and Canada can align on to strengthen fitness as essential infrastructure
• And the doors opened by having a fitness-sector advocate in Parliament

With a multidisciplinary background in kinesiology, business, and health system administration, Zach offers a rare, strategic view of the advocacy landscape as the fitness sector enters a defining year.

If you’re an operator, executive, policymaker, or part of the broader wellness ecosystem, this episode is your 2026 advocacy briefing.

Stay fit, stay informed, and keep your fitness business in shape.

Connect with The Fitness Industry Council of Canada: https://ficdn.ca/en/home/

Connect with Krissy Vann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krissyvann/

Connect with Zach Weston: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zweston/

Transcript

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I don't think we need any more data to convince ourselves or anyone else the value and the role that exercise and fitness plays in so many health conditions we need to work collaboratively and effectively together to realize the assets that the fitness sector has to to offer this is all things fitness and wellness uniting industry thought leaders and fitfluencers on the mission to inspire innovation and encourage people to live a life fit and well on today's episode we're zooming out to look at the fitness industry through a North American lens I'm joined by Zach Weston executive director of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada the organization representing roughly 7,000 facilities and 7 million members across the country even if you operate in the US or anywhere globally this conversation matters Canada is tackling the same industry pressures we're all facing policy momentum around preventative health affordability consolidation and the push to reach the inactive population at scale and the strategies taking shape in Canada often mirror influence or complement what's happening across the US and international markets Zach brings a rare mix of experience across kinesiology business health systems and entrepreneurship which gives him a broad practical view of where the sector is heading today we're digging into the big questions what's really shifting as we head into 2026 where is movement accessibility actually gaining traction and how can operators on both sides of the border and globally strengthen fitness as essential infrastructure before we get to it be sure to hit like and subscribe we have new podcast weekly featuring industry thought leaders and influencers I'm your host Chrissy Van and this is ATF W let's dive in here so Zach Weston from the Fitness Industry Council of Canada Zach maybe just give a little bit of an introduction because you did take over the reins this year from Gabriel Hardy so tell me a little bit about why you decided to step up into this role with the Fitness Industry Council of Canada well I think I can sum it up in really one word impact and you know I've been in the health and fitness sector my entire career I've been a fitness uh owner operator I've been a fitness provider I've been a healthcare provider and a healthcare administrator and I think it's that combination opportunity with the fitness uh industry council of Canada I can really roll all of that into one and you know we represent over 7,000 fitness facilities across the country and millions of Canadians and it's that ability that we have to impact not only their health but their fitness athletic performance and that's what really excites me for our US listeners and obviously a lot of operators will put two and two together here but basically the equivalent of what we have states I say we I'm not American but regardless the health and Fitness Association a lot of the advocacy work that is taking place on that side of the border parallels a lot of what we're trying to achieve here and that is making fitness more accessible to more individuals so the one thing that I'd say Zach that's been interesting for me as somebody that's been interviewing a ton of people in the space is that the sentiment stateside is that there's been a lot of really positive momentum for the fitness industry this year we have been seeing a lot of great reporting and numbers the growth in the hvlp space but I'm curious how would you describe the current state of the Canadian fitness sector as we step into 2026 especially since you do have a lot of familiarity with themes or pressures that your members are experiencing yeah it's a great question and I think it really cuts to the heart of our mission at the Fitness Industry Council of Canada so you know as we step into 2026 the Canadian fitness sector is defined by a powerful and transformative dual reality we've got robust recovery from covid and growth intertwined with an urgent push for recognition as an essential health solution uh so I would say from longevity uh prioritize programming to high rocks we're seeing a strong rebound in the fitness sector across Canada with key themes continuing to drive engagement in the performance and personal health areas so in addition the growing and important role for fitness facilities to provide a community and recognition for its role uh you know its vital critical and essential role in supporting mental health so our market in Canada we represent over 7,000 facilities and 7 million members and uh you know we've demonstrated resilience and we're on a positive trajectory you know both the sector's long term success uh hinges on addressing key themes and external pressures so we really think that the fitness sector is no longer just a nice to have discretionary spend it honestly is rapidly positioning itself as a critical extension of the Canadian healthcare system yeah and that integration isn't just here I mean really from an industry side that convergence of health club and healthcare is rapidly growing in momentum and you and I are well aware of how that would be ultra beneficial when it comes to battling chronic disease and ultimately saving a quite taxed Canadian healthcare system and I'll take the onus of saying that and so it makes a lot of sense if we are taking the onus and the accountability ourselves to be more healthy individuals that's gonna help that system so on that topic you know we talk about the Personal Health Investment Today Act a lot stateside with the HFA here in Canada we have a pesky tax line that doesn't seem to want to go from ineligible to eligible so reflecting on 2025 tell me a little bit about some of the advocacy wins or movements first that stood out and then we'll talk about some of the work that still needs to be done well I would say you know the single most impactful event of 2025 in Canada in the fitness sector was certainly uh the successful election of my predecessor Gabriel Hardy who is now a member of Parliament representing the community of Montmorency Charlevoix uh the region in Quebec and so we now have a tremendously strong ally in government who has historically been a champion for the fitness sector and he's continuing to work now from the inside to challenge government and to the healthcare system that you just talked about Chrissy I've worked in that healthcare system as a provider and also as an administrator and I think we can all agree it generally does a good job at managing disease although in often times the wait time for access to care is the challenge but what we don't do well is invest and provide services that are linked towards prevention and I think that's an area that the fitness sector is poised to play perfectly uh the the data we I don't think we need any more data to convince ourselves or anyone else the value and the role that exercise and fitness plays in so many uh health conditions we need to work collaboratively and effectively together to realize the assets that the fitness sector has to to offer so with regards to advocacy wins most certainly you know now having a representative in government who is so clearly passionate about what the fitness sector can do uh that's without question been our biggest win to have somebody that understands intrinsically and brings that passion and the network it's gonna be really interesting to see what happens as his time there continues now I know one of the big things with the FIC is a strong focus on increasing access to movement obviously some of those elements that we spoke to from policy side of things would help with that but what do you see as the biggest opportunity to reach some of our inactive populations in this country because I actually just got off an interview with a behavioral scientist where we're talking about that January surge and even then you're only getting a tiny portion of the population that is having those goals for movement and unfortunately we don't always retain those members yeah it's a great question Chrissy uh independent data that we have obtained through our partnership uh with the health and Fitness Association or the HFA uh that they drove uh through their uh relationship with the independent researchers from Portis their data highlighted that time was not the No. 1 barrier to fitness and and to be honest that surprised me because I've been hearing this for decades that time is the No. 1 reason people aren't as active as they should be uh but rather cost is the No. 1 deterrent among those who aren't active and don't have uh memberships uh to fitness facilities across Canada and that reality that it's cost it's not independently unique to Canada that seems to be consistent also in the United States and in many other countries across Europe where Portas conducted this research so we know that the fitness sector in Canada has ample assets and facilities that could be utilized more effectively in public private partnerships to bring current non users into these facilities for the purposes of improving and augmenting their health I had an opportunity and I reflect on when I did work in the publicly funded system when I worked for the Ministry of health in Ontario and I had some funding that I put towards developing and driving a win win partnership between a public and private institution and the purpose of that program was to provide funding and a service for chronic disease prevention and management and specifically for diabetes prevention and management and what we were able to do with the same amount of funding we were able to greatly reduce wait times and we were able to serve 10 times as many patients in that public private partnership model compared to only doing it in the publicly funded model alone so I think this is a great opportunity for the fitness sector to you know really step up and be a partner with the healthcare system to introduce fitness and exercise to those who've never gone to a gym or have never had a membership to a fitness facility yeah I wholeheartedly agree and then the other side of course is on that advocacy and policy change and you know you talk about the data you talk about the research and that is one thing that's been great with some of those partnerships through HFA that they are now providing more research documents so when people are going to Parliament or are going to Capitol Hill they're able to back up the investment because ultimately dollars matter and that's what's gonna help move the bottom line help people understand cause I'm I know that members of the FIC are familiar with kind of the big tax line that you're advocating for but there could be individuals that maybe aren't involved that aren't familiar so tell me a little bit about kind of the the big fight that the FIC has been doing over the last very long while haha well this is a conversation I had with Liz Clark on her podcast not too long ago and I think I I uh referred to this line on the federal tax return the CRA recognizes certain medical expenses uh and they don't recognize fitness uh on that line I called it the the Patrick Wahl and Wayne Gretzky line it's line line 3 3 0 9 9 so 33 0 99 and you know there's a lot of important things that the CIA does recognize on that line but the expenses that we as Canadians pay for gym memberships for buying a treadmill for buying running shoes they're not recognized there and we now know that cost is the number one barrier but interestingly the data shows when we look at the price elasticity a 10% reduction in that cost or through a tax incentivization would drive a significant growth in the number of Canadians that do engage in fitness facilities and and I think it's it's timely that we need to start thinking about different ways of engaging and getting Canadians active we just had the you know the latest participation report card on physical activity levels of Canadians uh published a couple of weeks ago and nothing's changing we're you know we're stagnant and yeah can you elaborate like do you remember any of those offhand or give people a picture of the Canadian grade yes well the the grades continue to hover just below 50% of Canadians achieving the physical activity targets and we've poured a significant amount of money into awareness campaigns and advocacy work I it's not working you know it's time to think about investing in other ways and frankly Chrissy you know having been a clinician working with uh you know patients in chronic disease I ran cardiac rehab programs for over two decades I don't think I've ever come across a Canadian who did not already know that fitness and exercise was good for them yet we continue to put money into awareness and advocacy campaigns to remind Canadians or educate them on things that frankly they already know but when I look at our tax policy I see that there's some inconsistencies when we're trying to incentivize certain types of behaviors you know for example we don't apply GST PST or HST on the purchase of healthy fresh fruits and vegetables because we want Canadians to eat healthy but we also want them to move and we want them to be physically active and you know a component of the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines includes resistance strength training a couple of days a week and I'm curious what the government's thoughts are with regards to where do they expect Canadians to do that safely effectively what exercises should they do what sequence what weight to lift what progression rate should they be following this is a lot more complex than simply telling people to go out and walk in their neighborhood which is of course a good thing to do but resistance strength training it does have a bit more complexity to it and increasingly we're seeing more and more research showing incremental value and perhaps arguably even more benefit than going for a walk so you're really looking at tax reform in this case and and recognizing fitness related expenses on line 3 3 0 9 9 or the removal of GST PST and HST would be very very helpful uh in our advocacy to get Canadians to actually um you know take some action well and in regards to taking action we want Canadians to be able to take action in their own health it's funny when you said I think every Canadian knows that fitness is good for them and I just think of my old news reporter hat how funny it would be if I set myself up to do Streeters and say hey did you know that exercise is good for you what are your thoughts and they just go yeah I'm aware yeah so your point it's not the barrier yeah that's for sure but yet that seems to be the problem we keep trying to solve from a top down perspective so when it comes to taking action I know that there have been a lot of discussions with our friends stateside about really unifying the industry and we've seen a lot of that happen especially in I hate bringing up the pandemic but in the post pandemic era I think it just brought everybody onto a same page same team so from the perspective here in Canada like for example in the States there's Capitol Hill fly ins where everyone's coming down together what's kind of the equivalent that we have in regards to how operators can also help move this message forward well I think one of the important things that uh we need to do in Canada is continue to unite the voice and that's really you know one of the reasons why the Fitness Industry Council of Canada exists is to unite and bring that voice of all the owner operators of fitness facilities across Canada in a not for profit uh you know organization so that when you know government or insurance or other businesses speaking you know with the Fitness Industry Council they're speaking with a not for profit organization who is really uh got the best interest of Canada at its at its heart you know certainly we advocate for better operating conditions for the fitness facility owner operators but we also got into this industry because we're passionate about the impact and the value and benefit that fitness can provide so you know I would say that that is one of the critical things that we really need to see is continued strength and membership in the in the FIC and and and not just passive membership but active engagement and membership with the FIC to you know participate in our forums participate in our surveys in the data collection so that when we are having these conversations we're doing so with current and up to date information I'm just curious when you have these forums what have been kind of the primary topics that have come up time and time again from your membership this year two main themes uh you know cost is one that we've talked about and driven by tax and you know that capability to be able to offer access and opportunity for people to be able to uh get into fitness facilities more financially cost effective uh these facilities you know increasingly with uh inflation and and uh uh you know the international tariffs as they're looking to upgrade their facility equipment and so forth it's expensive and to we have to appreciate these are businesses that do need to be fiscally responsible uh secondly of course we are also looking at uh the utilization of music in facilities across the country and I've got a lot of musicians in my family and you know we we recognize the importance of supporting the artists and ensuring that they are compensated for the value of the music that they provide uh but the challenge that we're also facing is it is significantly hefty increases in the tariffs that are applied to the music that is played in fitness facilities and so we're speaking as the voice with you know the Copyright Board of Canada with regards to ensuring that any increases in in fees related to music are appropriate I think we also can realize that a lot of uh consumption of music has changed in the last uh 20 some years since these tariffs were first introduced increasingly we're seeing people that are going to the gym they're streaming their own music through Apple Music or Spotify and they're not listening to the overhead music like they did you know 15 or 20 years ago so we are working hard on behalf of all of the members of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada to you know prevent you know significant hikes uh in those fees they do need to move with the times because even further than that what people are streaming on their Spotify or their apple and their headphones some of it aren't even artists these days like the was a top 100 Billboard chart was an AI piece of music yes so if there was ever a signal that maybe your laws from 20 years ago might need to change probably that but we'll see I know early adoption of things isn't always necessarily synonymous with government but that's okay this is why we have advocacy and hopefully some people are streaming and listening to your podcast too exactly there you go nothing like invigorating the workout here as we switch topics to consolidation and mergers and acquisitions so buckle up and press a little level 11 on that stair climber I started the conversation saying that you know there has been this tremendous momentum stateside so I'm just curious about what the consolidation and MNA activity looks like on this side of the border yeah so what I'm hearing in this space Chrissy is that big chains are continuing to expand fairly aggressively so the you know those big chains and you know they're acquiring retail space from some of the old Canadian tires that have closed Zellers the Bay etc so you know we've got some vacancies and so they're expanding so organizations and you know national brands like crunch and Planet Fitness you know those high value low price uh facilities um you know they're they're really driving a lot of that growth we're also seeing some private equity backed um you know expansion um you know both in crunch um in that franchised approach um Movati has continued to open across Western Canada and now we're seeing Altea which is a fairly new brand expanding and testing some of the new programming and experiences the good life which I believe is globally I think they're the largest independently owned uh fitness chain in the world uh they've also done some acquisitions and upgrades to existing locations they've converted some of their you know Good Life clubs into their fit for less brand uh with uh demand for some of the smaller more routine locations and many big franchise brands are scaling in Canada now so we're seeing um F45 Orange Theory fitness uh strong Pilates Club Pilates and several more experienced brands that are growing in in this space so five years after the pandemic we're now seeing several club improvements new programming and spaces being added and renovated and recovery space niche group fitness strength spaces you know expanding like high rocks and uh you also workplace you know workplace uh fitness uh which is expanding to create more community and wellness across the country so good news on this side of the border in a nutshell I mean there there's just been a lot of positivity and it is really interesting I like that you highlight what's happening and kind of those dead retail spaces it's a great as I was speaking with the developer I was at um Issa in Toronto the Franchise Show and speaking to some of the developers there and fitness facilities are often such a great partnership for them because generally you take over a larger footprint but you're attracting people that are hey I'm gonna go to the gym and then I'm gonna grab my groceries after and it's just a great opportunity for some of these communities where they're kind of trying to design everybody to have a walking footprint in one space you mentioned Gabriel Hardy moving from FIC leadership into federal politics and we talked a little bit about the goals of the FIC heading into 2026 but when it comes to in practice what does that look like so when you're mapping out your route into next year what actually happens I mean people are paying their membership to be part of FIC so seeing that money and movement what does that look like I've had several trips to Ottawa meetings with Gabriel and other members of Parliament where we're really trying to focus on you know having that conversation about the value that the fitness sector can advocate and provide uh you know you most often the conversation is linked to healthcare because healthcare is the biggest budget line item both federally and provincially and we see that the fitness sector is an untapped resource so Gabriel has opened the doors uh to having conversations where you know we've had the ability to sit down with ministers and shadow ministers and talk about uh you know who we are what we have to offer and and also understand from their perspective what is the barrier that you know they are seeing as you know a reason you know not to necessarily agree with our uh rationale for you know recognizing fitness online 3 3 0 9 9 or removal of the HST on fitness related expenses so we're gathering that information we're challenging it we don't necessarily agree with the decisions in terms of why you know that continues to not be uh you know something that is recognized by the government but they've provided us with the rationale in terms of why they've made their current decisions and it's enabled us with the capability to go and dive into the data uh not just nationally in Canada but internationally to see how have some of these international tax incentives uh influenced behavior for people to become more fit and there is data that we are compiling and putting forward a report and recommendation in terms of how could Canada learn from other countries that have done this to be successful and impactful because ultimately you know the government agrees they want Canadians to be more fit just like we do and you know there's been uh you know lots of changes in in the healthcare space in recent years we're now seeing increasingly more and more uh recognition and inclusion of GLP1 receptor agonist for weight loss management and I don't think you can argue with the uh the evidence that the clinical trials have demonstrated with regards to helping control blood sugar and weight management what I always like to highlight is those clinical trials the majority if not all of them included an aspect of supervised exercise so while the government is funding and recognizing and supporting the injections and a lot of people don't recognize that Ozempic and Wegovy are injectable medicines it's not an oral thing at least at this point although some of those are in development the supervised exercise was a critical component of that clinical trial and I'm not aware of any clinical trial research where the GLP1 receptor agonist medications achieve those results without supervised exercise and further to that we know the importance and it's included in our Canadian Movement guidelines about resistance strength training and it's also well documented that people only taking GLP1 receptor agonists are going to lose muscle mass which of course is going to have an impact on their their function their stability their balance their metabolism and so you know I think that these things can go hand in hand you know there's a role for the medications but there's a critical role for you know the fitness programming to accompany it it's so true I was just on with a behavioral scientist and we had the opportunity to touch on this a bit so much so'cause that wasn't what the conversation was about so we booked another interview for 2026 to really dive in around the behavior dynamics and this is a huge obvious bridge and the level of adoption of these types of medications we know as their uses have expanded initially it was just for managing type 2 diabetes once we saw the approvals for weight loss like we are the answer for being a partnership with these medications but for a lot of these individuals they maybe haven't been in a fitness facility in years maybe they've never been for the first time but those behavioral changes I'm going to have a radical output on their overall well being their overall health span so bringing these conversations to the forefront especially in the now is of utmost importance I know that you have the opportunity to speak with leaders in the space not just in Canada but globally so if operators across the globe were to align with a single priority for 2026 to strengthen fitness as essential infrastructure what should that priority be perhaps there's a couple core components and I think you know first of all the financial accessibility but then secondly the clinical credibility so you know we've talked about you know the tax reform that uh you know Liz Clark and her team have been advocating for with the flying in Washington and the HFA and unfortunately they didn't quite get to the finish line but you know I think there's great logic to the federal government in the United States to advance the fit act and similarly in Canada we know that these types of things you know they don't just make it more affordable but they save billions of dollars in healthcare expenditures if people are more active whether it's in Canada the United States Europe Africa Asia wherever it happens to be we need we need people to move more and sit less so I would say the other aspect is you know with regards to the credibility perspective in the clinical partnerships there currently exists a challenge from what I've heard when I engage with medical leaders in Canada and there's there's not necessarily the degree of trust that they have yet with the fitness sector they acknowledge and admit that yes fitness and exercise are very very important for their patients but we're not yet at a level where we have established and created the standards that exist in the fitness sector across Canada and even in the United States they haven't established these either but as I speak with leaders not only in Canada but also in the United States there's alignment and people are starting to uh support the idea that I've brought forward that you in manufacturing we have ISO standards in terms of how things are are done but in the fitness sector we haven't determined what those standards are yet I've started to have some conversations with the Medical Fitness Association in the United States they have some standards uh but I think widespread we could look at establishing the standards so that we could determine what are the personnel requirements the HR standards the equipment facility operations if you're going to you know be in a situation where you're you will be in a public private partnership delivering standardized uh healthcare fitness related programming for cardiac rehab or diabetes management or cancer and exercise what are the capabilities of your organization to receive personal health information store it properly communicate that back to the medical team so we haven't done that and so you know that's some of the apprehension that the medical community has they're also uncertain about the training status of the different personal that are delivering fitness programming these are not uh you know complex things that we can't overcome this is not as challenging as putting a human being on the moon which we did 55 years ago we can figure this out we can work with the medical community to figure out what is it that they need to build and have that trust in us that we can provide credible effective programming much like I demonstrated when I worked at the Ministry of health where you know we were able to eliminate the wait list and see 10 times as many patients for the same amount of of funding so in a constraint you know physically constraining uh healthcare reality that we live in we can only spend $1 once so let's figure out how federally and provincially we can spend those dollars most effectively to improve the health of as many Canadians as we possibly can well I'm sure in hearing that it sparks something in operators I can't imagine anybody that has a fitness facility that wouldn't want to be part of that movement so how can people get involved in the FIC if they are not already and also I will put the date in the show notes but you can also share an opportunity for them to join us and Aaron Phelan that's part of the FIC as well in December so take the floor fitness facility owners and operators you know industry partners who supply equipment and other uh resources to the fitness sector they can all join as well as uh individual practitioners they can go to our website F I C d n dot C a and click the become a member link to join us Zach Weston I so appreciate you taking the time today you and I will be collaborating in December as well to take part in a webinar that will be featured and they can find the information at Fitness Industry Council of Canada I will make sure to have the website and the links all in the show notes below but I really appreciate your time today and I look forward to chatting further where we kind of recap the year and talk about where we're heading for 2026 love it thank you so much for the invitation Chrissy you've just listened to the all things fitness and wellness podcast hosted by Chrissy Van be sure to hit like and subscribe we have new podcast episodes weekly featuring industry insiders and influencers together we're on a mission for everyone to live a life fit and well