Human Resources Committee on May 23rd, 2024

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

No, I never asked for that.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

—for families. Would you also not agree then that the carbon tax is adding to other costs such as the cost of food?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

We never asked for the carbon tax to be removed. We asked for an adjustment for rural regions, because we don't have the infrastructure that big cities have, like public transportation. Look, the government realized that this was the case. I think we have to treat every region in Canada fairly.

Again, saying that the carbon tax is the only reason that everything is going up in Canada is a message that I think the Conservatives need to stop saying, because people are starting to not believe them anymore.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Mr. Cormier, going back to the premise of your bill, we know that the Liberal carbon tax does add to the cost of transportation. It adds to the cost of farmers. “Canada's Food Price Report” predicted that the average family will spend $700 more this year on food.

Would you support taking the carbon tax off of all food and all transportation costs for any food that may be grown, transported and purchased to be used in a school food program?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, inflation went down again in Canada this past month.

Again, I know that the Conservatives don't want to talk about the school food program, because they voted against it. Their leader voted against it—

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Perhaps you haven't seen the Food Banks Canada poverty report or the Salvation Army report that just came out.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

What is your point of order?

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Chair, I do believe that if a question is asked.... The question that was asked took roughly 30 seconds. I think the member should be allowed the same time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Mr. Long, that's not a point of order.

Mrs. Gray, conclude your comments, and then we'll move on to the next one.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Obviously, the member hasn't seen some of the reports that have come out literally over the last 24 hours talking about how people can't afford to feed themselves. Almost 50% of Canadians say they are having a tougher time than they were even just a year ago.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Give a short answer, Mr. Cormier.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

The only solution the Conservatives are proposing is to eliminate the carbon tax. They do not want children to have breakfast, lunch and snacks in our schools, to help families get through difficult times.

Our government will always be there to help families, thanks to the various social programs we have put in place since 2015 that the Conservatives have always voted against.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mrs. Gray.

Mr. Van Bynen, you have five minutes.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

First of all, Serge, let me applaud you for having the courage and the intuition to pursue this very important issue.

I grew up in a family of 15. I grew up on a farm, and there were days when I and my brothers and sisters did go to school without food, so forgive me if I get impatient with the self-righteous indignation of some of the members who'd rather send cheques to millionaires and who lack the compassion to understand the intentions of this bill.

I'd like to get past the politics and this one-trick pony of the carbon tax, and talk about what you're proposing in this legislation. What are the observed long-term benefits on students who have benefited from the school food programs throughout their education?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you for your question.

Your parents must have had their hands full, with 15 children in the house. You certainly have a wonderful family and wonderful memories.

As I said earlier, a program like this has numerous benefits, particularly for students' health. It will provide a better diet, a balanced diet of healthy food, and it will reduce malnutrition problems. It has been proven that school food programs could even reduce the risk of obesity, raise attendance rates, since children are less embarrassed to go to school, and improve students' concentration in class—because how can you concentrate in school if you have nothing to eat in the morning?

A program like this will help students, but it will also help their families, by alleviating the stress that results from their inability to feed their children properly, for various reasons. This is not a program we can live without. I hope we will manage to put a framework and guidelines in place, working with various stakeholders, in order to produce a strong and binding law in the next few years.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Thank you.

My wife is a retired teacher. My daughter is a current teacher. They've seen the impact and disparity in these marginalized communities. One of the concerns is that there are schools that have really good food programs and the marginalized communities don't have these resources. I'm glad to see that the intent of this legislation is to address these issues.

Can you tell me how school food programs can benefit from partnerships with local producers and community organizations?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, just like I said, the perfect example is right in my backyard at the school behind me where my kids go. They put in a wonderful program where they gave a piece of land to a local farmer. This farmer is growing food—vegetables and fruit—right now. Kids are doing the planting. All those vegetables and the food are going to the cafeteria. It feeds the children at breakfast and lunch.

This is why we need to talk to all those stakeholders. A lot of consultation was already done to see how we can put a school food program in every school in Canada.

This is pretty big, as you can imagine. There are a lot of schools in Canada. We need to know what kind of infrastructure we have. The witnesses who will come after will tell you that there's already some structure in place. There are already some groups. For example, in my area, a group called Fondation des petits déjeuners de la Péninsule acadienne helps schools provide meals to the children.

This is why we need a framework. What the government did was put $1billion in place for the next five years, which will give money to provinces with bilateral agreement. We will be able to fit in a little bit more schools.

In the meantime, let's work on the framework for the future so we can have a school food program for years to come in Canada that will help families and, most importantly, the children who are our future.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

You have time for a short question, Mr. Van Bynen.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

Can you tell me if there are any models of collaboration where the private sector or NGOs have shown positive results?

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Yes, and there are a lot. I'm sure that the witnesses after me will tell you about the work they're doing right now. In my riding, there's only one or two, but they're doing tremendous work. They raised $1.3 million in the last five years to feed 21 schools in my riding.

Those stakeholders will be key partners to help achieve this framework.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Van Bynen.

Ms. Chabot, the floor is yours for two and a half minutes.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I know I have only two minutes, but I will begin by saying that no one around the table is opposed to the objective of healthy school food and its benefits for children, and yet we are hearing the Liberals and New Democrats saying that people are voting against that goal.

In fact, we are not voting against the principle, we are voting against the method.

With all due respect, Mr. Cormier, your bill will duplicate the existing services in the provinces, in community organizations, in practice, or in the schools. Those are the people who have the expertise and are delivering these services. The federal government wanting to provide financial support for the types of programs that exist in Quebec and elsewhere is one thing. Wanting to institute a national framework in a federation where these powers belong to the provinces will create overlap and build a bigger bureaucracy, and solve nothing, because the federal government has no expertise in how to do it.

[Serge Cormier, Liberal, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I don't know whether that was a question, but—

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I am going to ask one: Do you acknowledge, in addition to the fact that education is under the exclusive jurisdiction of the provinces, that your government has no expertise on the ground in delivering these services to our children in the schools?