The federal government says it will launch a national school food program, hoping to deliver meals to an additional 400,000 children per year.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland made the announcement during an event in Toronto on Monday, the latest in a series of public appearances by the prime minister and his cabinet ministers ahead of the federal budget planned for April 16.
The national program will “take pressure off of families, invest directly in the future of our kids and make sure they’re able to reach their full potential — feeling healthy and happy,” Trudeau said in a statement.
The federal government will spend $1 billion over five years to implement the program. That figure mirrors a 2021 campaign promise made by the governing Liberals.
Canada is the only G7 country that does not have a national school food program, according to the Breakfast Club of Canada. Advocates have argued that a national program is needed to fill gaps left by a patchwork of provincial, local and charitable programs that are under strain due to low resources and high food prices.
“Canadian families are struggling. With inflation pushing food prices to stratospheric levels, we know that a national school food program would help children and youth access nutritious food, which would then support their mental health, behaviour and study habits,” Debbie Field, co-ordinator of the Coalition for Healthy School Food, said in a Feb. 27 media statement.
The school food program is not one of the policy provisions set out under the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence deal, which has seen the New Democrats support the government in key votes for two years. But the NDP recently called for the federal government to implement a program.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will ‘put pressure on the government’ to fund school lunches for kids across the country.
“Parents are doing everything they can to take care of their kids, but the cost of food just keeps going up,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a media statement last month. “In a country as rich as ours, no child should ever have to go to school hungry.”
In a post on social media on Monday, Singh referred to the program as a “demand” of his party.
Provinces have jurisdiction over education in Canada. The federal government said in a news release on Monday that the money dedicated to the national program would “also help provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners expand their existing school food programs to make sure more children across the country can enjoy the healthy meals they need.”
Last December, Conservatives voted against a private member’s bill that would have established a national framework for a school food program.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has harshly criticized the Liberal government for its handling of the economy and of affordability issues, frequently noting the rise in food bank usage across the country.
Poilievre, along with many provincial leaders, has also called for the government to cancel an increase to the carbon tax, which goes into effect on Monday.
