Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Going back specifically to the price of food, which is what the motion is, this is a motion looking at one way to bring down the price and the costs of the farmers producing our food. Food Banks Canada released a report saying that food banks were visited nearly two million times during one month alone, an increase of 79% from 2019.
Statistics Canada published a study into food insecurity that showed that the number of families who are food-insecure increased by more than 12% from 2021 to 2022. Again, the motion that I have before us is one way to look at addressing the cost of food.
According to Feed Ontario's annual hunger report, Ontario has seen food bank use “explode”—that's their word—as Canadians struggle to keep their heads above water amidst skyrocketing inflation and interest rates. Between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, over 800,000 people in Ontario alone accessed a food bank, and in total there were 5.9 million visits to a food bank in this time period.