Mr. Speaker, last week I was happy to spend Thanksgiving with friends and family in my beautiful riding of Kootenay—Columbia. On October 16, I celebrated World Food Day with the Kootenay conservation group, Wildsight, through its Food For Thought online summit.
The summit offered communities across the country an opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion on what we can do to raise awareness about food security at a local level. Supporting and celebrating local farmers, food manufacturers, and retailers is essential to achieving food security goals.
As we take time this week to celebrate National Small Business Week, we should also celebrate all levels of local food production in Canada. That is why I was proud to table my private member's bill, Bill C-281, which would designate the Friday before Thanksgiving each year as national local food day.
Food matters from farm to fork. I urge all members of Parliament to support our local food businesses and national local food day.