Thank you, Chair.
I'd like to thank the witnesses for their presentations, their participation in this consultation, and their patience.
I realize that there was a tribute in the House, but all members are expected to be at committee for 3:30. This is a really complicated, broad subject, and I wish we had more time to delve into it.
In 2012, the UN special rapporteur came to Canada. I remember because I was on the agriculture committee. We talked a lot about food insecurity and the recommendations that were made. I don't think the last government acted on them, and I'm not sure where the present government is on that, but the right to food is something that has come up quite often at committee.
In Canada we produce amazing food, and the government has an objective that we export more, but then we still have four million Canadians who are food insecure in Canada. It seems that we do have a broken food system, and the solution is this food strategy.
My fear is that we'll consult as a committee and the government will do their consultations. We'll have a wonderful report, but there will be no outcomes, no results, and we won't solve many of the problems. That is my big fear.
I was wondering if we could start off, Mr. Saul, and talk about the importance of a national food strategy for children. I know my colleague Olivia Chow, who's no longer with us in the House, worked really, really hard on a national food program for kids. She talked about its importance. There are so many children who are food insecure. Would that be something that could be a food strategy or recommendation? We don't even know if there's going to be money attached to this, at the end of the day. I was wondering if you could talk about the importance of starting with young children.