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House Hansard - 337

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 17, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24
Mrs. Tracy Gray (Kelowna—Lake Country, CPC)
  • Sep/17/24 6:37:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am wondering if the member can speak to this. During his entire speech, he did not reference any of the causes of food prices going up. For example, there is the inflationary deficit spending that caused inflation to increase for food in double digits. There are the tax increases caused when we tax the farmer who grows the food, those who transport the food, those who warehouse the food and those who retail the food; we actually tax the end user of the food. I am wondering if the Liberal member can speak to the actual causes behind why food prices have gone up so much.
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Context: House Hansard - 337 - Sep/17/24
Ms. Lisa Marie Barron (Nanaimo—Ladysmith, NDP)
  • Sep/17/24 6:39:16 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am incredibly appreciative to be here for this particular debate. As we all know, we are the only G7 country that does not have a national school food program. Now, I never like to make this about me, but I have to share. I was one of those parents who could not afford to keep healthy, nutritious food on the table for my children, and I would have loved to have given them healthier options when sending them to school, but I just could not afford it. I became an EA in the school district and worked directly in the schools, and I realized I was not alone. Too many children were showing up to school who were unable to learn effectively. They were having a hard time with relationships. The impacts were just tremendous on children of not having access to the food that they so desperately needed. I then went on to work as a community school coordinator. I applied for programming and funding to get kids the essential programs and food that they needed and saw the difference in the kids when they had a healthy breakfast in the morning and when they had access to a lunch. I went on to become a school board trustee to fight for these school food programs across Canada. Now I am here. I say this because I do not understand why it has taken us so long to get where we are now when children are hungry, and they are even worse off now today than they were before—
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