Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The conversation we're having is so critically important. When you start looking at this, you see that 10 years ago families didn't struggle to feed their kids, by and large. Ten years ago, there weren't millions of kids using food banks. We're in a circumstance, a situation, because we've had out-of-control food inflation. The solution from the Liberals was to nationalize a school food program and create a bureaucracy here in Ottawa to put into play what has been, up to this point, primarily in provincial jurisdiction.
The piece that is fundamental here is that even in these spaces that are in provincial jurisdiction.... For me, as a former provincial member, I believe that respecting jurisdiction is incredibly important if we want to move forward on things that are logical and make sense.
I've said it before at this committee and I will repeat it. In my province of Alberta, the province I come from, we've had a school food program for decades. One of the challenges, and the challenge that I hear—whether it's from families in Fort McMurray, Cold Lake, Lac La Biche or particularly Fort Chipewyan in the far north of my riding—is the inflation they are feeling and how that is impacting their groceries.
When I was first elected and became an MP, I would come to Ottawa. I would go to the grocery store. The closest grocery store to the place we found to rent was the.... Of course, now I can't remember the name of it, but it was a very expensive grocery store. In coming from northern Alberta, when I went to that grocery store, I thought it was really cheap. I was ranting and raving about how lovely the produce was and how I found it to be wonderful.
When I was chatting with some of my Ontario colleagues, they were saying that it was the most expensive grocery store and that I should go a few blocks farther, where I'd get to a much cheaper grocery store. My husband and I realized that there was a much cheaper grocery store just a few blocks farther, and we started doing that.
This just goes to show that food inflation actually ripples. What we are—