Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): The issue of food insecurity for a growing number of Canadian families is a serious one, it is a challenging one and it is one that the government is taking seriously within its areas of jurisdiction.

Not being an economist and not wanting to minimize at all the impact of every aspect of the increased cost of living on Canadians’ ability to feed their households with the nourishing food that they deserve, the evidence is not at all clear that the price on pollution adds a significant amount to the growing food costs. We heard that expressed quite clearly in a recent intervention in this chamber.

The fact is Canadians are struggling; the federal government is doing its part, as are our provinces and, thank goodness, the non‑profit sector. We should all continue to do our part to help Canadians in need.