The most important thing the government could do is encourage public institutions to source locally. Local sourcing is being done by countless hospitals and university campuses. This could be tried in government buildings, and why not by Parliament?
We have to encourage local purchasing. Perhaps Mr. Groleau would have more to say about it, but one of the challenges local producers face is to find a regular market for their products.
I don't mean just any local product either, but organically produced product and healthy foods. We do not produce enough fruit and vegetables in Canada. When the American dollar goes up and the price of fruit and vegetables shoots up as a consequence in Canada, that makes us very vulnerable. This is a big concern for consumers, citizens.
The most important thing you could do would be for the Minister of Health to put incentives in place, either through setting prices or making regulations, to have the health sector source locally. This is in fact what the Montreal Heart Institute does.
Various initiatives are afoot in this regard. There is Nourish, for instance, a collaborative venture between the McConnell Foundation, Food Secure Canada, and other organizations. There are 25 such initiatives underway.
Meal Exchange is another; it is a group made up of university students who are putting pressure on their respective universities to have them provide better food. This is being done at the University of Toronto, Concordia University, Ryerson University, and on many other campuses from one end of Canada to the other.