Thank you, Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for their testimony.
Before I get to my questions today for this panel, I want to highlight a couple of points on our economy. There is some good news, which I think needs to be highlighted.
All of us have journeys here. I was blessed to grow up in northern British Columbia in a great little city called Prince Rupert. I'm very happy to see, with regard to investment in Canada—in British Columbia, in this instance—that AltaGas and Royal Vopak have approved a $1.35-billion terminal that will export energy products such as propane to Asia from British Columbia. Everyone knows that, in the supply chain in Canada, Prince Rupert's port has two to three days of quicker shipping time over to Asia. It's better than Vancouver, Long Beach and Seattle.
I just received the announcement of a huge expansion to the port of Prince Rupert. It includes the Canada Infrastructure Bank providing a $150-million investment, literally, for this city and for the hard-working, middle-class Canadians in Prince Rupert. This is about $2 billion in investments going into the town I was born and raised in. I still have family there and a lot of friends. These are good, middle-class jobs with great benefits and great futures.
It's great to see investments taking place in all parts of Canada. Here in Ontario, there are investments with regard to the auto sector, the nuclear sector and so forth. There's AI in other parts of the country.
In this case, in northern British Columbia, we've seen literally $2 billion in investments announced within the last two weeks. It's in a very crucial part of our country with regard to the supply chain—the CN Rail facility in Prince Rupert, the port and so forth. It's very good news. I was very excited to read it this morning. Again, it demonstrates what I think is the right track that we are on in terms of building a strong economy—not only for today but also for the future and our children. I know many of us here are parents, and that's what's important.
I would like to go to the individual who spoke about the food program they run. This is for the Fresh Roots Urban Farm Society.
I hope I understood your comments correctly, etc. I want to ask about establishing a national food program for folks.
Just how important is it for us to put forward a national school food program for children across the country?