I find it interesting that the member for Carleton says people shouldn’t be commenting when they don’t know what they’re talking about.

The nutrition program at the school my colleague was talking about is actually funded through the province—so I suspect that you’re going to go to the minister, then, and tell him that he needs to provide the emergency funding to feed those hungry children.

Speaker, my colleague from Nickel Belt talked about students with special education needs not getting the supports they need in schools. As a trustee, I can tell you, for many decades, through consecutive Conservative and Liberal governments, every single board runs a deficit when it comes to supporting students with special needs. The special-ed funding is insufficient and has been for a very long time.

I’m going to ask the member from Carleton, is your government, in this bill, going to provide the special education funding that the school boards need in order to actually be able to provide supports to students with special-ed needs so that they can thrive and get the education and the learning experience that they deserve—because currently, under your government, they’re not. In fact—

This bill states right in the title that it wants to achieve better outcomes for students.

Right now, in Niagara, 16 schools can’t operate their nutrition program—and they can’t even operate it because of the funding. The kids are going hungry because this government hasn’t increased funding as food prices skyrocket.

Does this member and the Conservative Party think that hungry children perform well at school?

I asked this question this morning to the Conservative side, so I think it’s fair and reasonable to ask it to the NDP side: This bill states right in the title that it wants to achieve better outcomes for students. Right now in Niagara, 16 schools can’t operate their nutrition program. The program and the kids are going hungry because this government hasn’t increased funding as food prices skyrocket like in every other province in Canada.

Does the member think that hungry children perform well at school?

Thank you to my colleague from Niagara Falls for his question. I have to say, the member has been such a strong advocate for the students, the teachers and education workers and the school community of Niagara Falls, so thank you for your work on that.

To answer his question, absolutely not. When kids go hungry, they are not going to be able to learn but they’re not going to be able to do anything, because that is all that the student physically—and it has an impact mentally as well. It’s going to overtake them, in terms of the need for the students. It’s so important, and we have to take a number of different measures, from ensuring that school nutrition programs are well funded and run and in place in every school for every student that needs them, but also that the families are not living in poverty, that they’re not being—not only where the cost of living is increasing, but prices of basic things like groceries are being gouged. Rents are through the roof. On so many fronts, it has been so difficult to keep a roof over your head, to feed your children, and now, with the government taking away student nutrition funding, you are not going to get better outcomes—