QUESTION PERIOD — Employment and Social Development
National School Food Program
November 6, 2024
My question is for the Government Representative in the Senate, Senator Gold. I commend the government for its commitment to the National School Food Program, which aims to provide more children across Canada with access to nutritious and culturally relevant meals.
Senator Gold, given that Ontario has yet to join the $1-billion National School Food Program despite the increase in demand for school nutrition programs and increase in food insecurity, could the government provide an update on the status of negotiations with Ontario?
Thank you for your question and for highlighting this very important program to help countless kids every year, save a family of four as much as $800 a year in groceries and, as importantly, of course, provide nourishment to children who otherwise might not have it.
I understand that the government is continuing its work to sign agreements with all provinces and territories to help them enhance and expand those programs.
To your question, my understanding is that the government is having constructive conversations with Ontario around moving forward with the school food program, and the government hopes to have good news to share soon.
The funding for this program, of course, will be delivered to provinces and territories through bilateral agreements to both expand and enhance the existing school food programs within their respective jurisdictions.
Thank you, Senator Gold.
I am hearing that we are close to an agreement, for Ontario at least.
How will the government use data-driven oversight to ensure that once Ontario and other provinces join, this funding will adequately address the growing needs of communities across Canada?
Thank you for your question. I don’t have a specific answer for you. However, I can assure you that the bilateral agreements being discussed and negotiated in this area, as they are in pharmacare and other areas — or at least in the negotiations leading to the agreements; let me be perhaps more careful in my words — are attuned and attentive to the issue of proper oversight and monitoring to ensure that this extra money that is given to provinces to spend in areas of their jurisdiction is nonetheless properly spent for the purposes for which the government has granted it.
