Evidence of meeting #15 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Secretary, thank you for being here today. It is your first time coming to this committee. We did invite you for two hours. Will you be here for the full two hours?
Liberal
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Well, we did invite you for two hours. It's unfortunate that you're here for only an hour.
You talked quite extensively about the school food program. Are you the lead on the school food program?
Conservative
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Are you happy with the fact that your school food program aims to serve only one in 10 kids in Canada?
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
I believe the school food program has made tremendous advancements in feeding more children, an additional 400,000, with the investments that have been made. This is in addition to the work and the investments that provinces and territories were doing. I believe it is a big step forward and a meaningful impact for families in need.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you know how many school-aged children are in Canada?
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
I do not have that exact number in front of me.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
It's five million. You're aiming to feed 400,000, which means that only one in 10 kids will even possibly get fed by that program. What happens to the other nine?
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
It is 400,000 in addition to what the provinces and territories were already contributing through their own investments and programs. For example, in Quebec over 700,000 children were receiving meals. That number has now grown, thanks to the investment.
Is there always room to do more? Absolutely. We're going to make the program permanent. We're going to continue to invest in it and expand it to meet the needs of as many children as we can.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you know how many children go to food banks every single month in Canada?
Liberal
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Would you like to know? There are over 700,000 children in food bank lines every single month in this country. Does that number alarm you?
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
I think it's important to note the programs and supports that this government is investing in with the budget. For example, there's the Canada child benefit. As I mentioned, there's school food, dental care and child care. These are all ways that organizations that provide support and fight food insecurity have said will support and fight food insecurity.
Our government is investing in those things to support families who face food insecurity. As far as I can tell, members opposite have voted against all these supports that those working on the ground in these sectors have said will help address the problem.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Minister, do you believe government is best suited to feed children, and not parents?
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
I believe it takes a village to raise healthy children.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you know the percentage of clients at food banks who are children?
Liberal
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
It's 33%. A third of the people who use food banks in this country are kids. This is an abject failure of the government of the last 10 years, which has been driving up food prices. Food prices continue rising every single month. Families are struggling to put healthy food on the table, and your guy's solution is to feed one out of 10 kids in school. What happens for the kids who are under the school age?
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
The Canada child benefit, for example, for a family of two right now is $11,000 tax-free. In addition, if we add dental care, it represents thousands of dollars back into the pockets of families. For the parents who have children who are school-aged and receive the benefit of the national school food program, perhaps in their school, that's another $800 in their pockets.
We also—
Conservative
Liberal
Anna Gainey Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC
—put forward a tax cut for 22 million Canadians. That was the first thing this government did. We are there with supports. We are also cutting spending to invest more in these programs, to protect and defend them.
These are all supports that will help with affordability and will help parents with the cost of raising their kids. These are all things that Conservatives have consistently voted against, including last night in the House of Commons.
Conservative
Laila Goodridge Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Do you understand that it now costs over six dollars to buy four litres of milk in my community? I'm not even that far north. The further north you go, there are families that are paying substantially more just for milk to be able to feed their kids. Baby formula has gone up. In eight short years, the price of baby formula has increased by 84% in this country. There are families that are resorting to buying opened cases of milk just so they can feed their babies.