Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks to the witnesses for your testimony and your dedication to combatting food insecurity, which is bigger than the issue of school food programs. We appreciate all your expertise and your work, which improves our children's quality of life.
I am a nurse by profession, but I was the leader of a large labour organization in Quebec whose members were mainly education workers. The social policies that the trade union movement put forward included equal opportunities for children. We are not all born equal, but I think that guaranteeing that children have the right to healthy food creates greater equality of opportunity. We can see that this is the case in the schools as well: Healthy food also has effects on learning, on academic success, and on drop-out rates. These benefits have been proven. I therefore want to thank you for what you are doing.
Mr. Mansfield, there are groups in Quebec at present like the Chantier pour un programme d'alimentation scolaire universel au Québec, which is part of the Coalition pour une saine alimentation scolaire. There is also the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques, which has done studies to justify going even further and having a universal school food program that would not stigmatize children. You have pointed out how important that is. There are a number of possible formulas. The cost of this has been estimated to be $18 billion a year. We understand that it would be a very expensive program.
Apart from that, I have some questions about the bill we have before us. Essentially, you understand that no one can be opposed to healthy food in schools. However, Canada is a vast country and expertise in this area lies at the provincial government level, at least in Quebec, where there is significant public funding, since healthy food in schools is not just supported by community organizations.
How can a national framework law support efforts in connection with healthy school food, which must be the role of the provinces in the first instance, without creating overlaps?