Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome, everybody, and thank you for your presentations.
I'm going to pick up on what Dr. Doig was talking about, which is children.
We have the 2003 Physical Activity and Sport Act and we have the integrated pan-Canadian healthy living strategy. These are good goals; they're good strategies. I want to know what difference they make at the community level, and more particularly, at the individual level. If we can teach children to have good nutrition and be involved in physical activity, we'll have healthier adults.
My concern is that not all children get a chance at a healthy diet. Probably 600,000 Canadian children go to school hungry. Hungry children cannot learn. We know we have good breakfast programs. I was the vice-chair in Toronto, and we fed 110,000 children every morning. That means that one out of four of our kids goes to school hungry. I think that's unconscionable in Canada. And we're the only industrialized country without a national breakfast program.
I understand that education is a provincial jurisdiction, but I think there is an opportunity for federal leadership to develop a national breakfast program, building on what is currently there. I feel the same thing about exercise. Although we talk about tax credits, there are some children who simply cannot afford to participate, and the only physical activity they will get will be in school. I think the two biggest things we could do are to provide nutrition and to provide that exercise at school.
I'll give the example from my own riding. We have the highest rate of type 2 child diabetes in the province of Ontario. It's linked to poverty. We're the fifth most diverse riding in the country. We have many newcomers, and my families are working two and three jobs just to put food on the table, and if the choice is between a five-dollar litre of orange juice and a two-dollar double litre of orange pop, the choice is clear.
Having said all that, I guess my question is, how do you feel about a national breakfast program and a national commitment to 30 minutes of physical activity in our schools?
It can open up to everybody.