Mr. Speaker, I rise to follow up on a question I asked in the House a few short weeks ago about an issue that has become a massive one, not just across the country, but in particular in the communities I represent across Elgin County, St. Thomas and London South, and that is the issue of food affordability.
This is a global issue, when we talk about inflation, but it is one that has a disproportionate effect in Canada. The figure of 7.3% is the one that came out between when I initially asked my question and now. That is the year-over-year inflation on just food products that Canadians are facing.
We have seen record demand in the food banks across my riding. The St. Thomas Elgin Food Bank has had, I believe, three straight years of increases, feeding 30,000 mouths last year. The Corner Cupboard Food Bank in Aylmer is on a very similar trajectory, and the London Food Bank is very similar.
On one hand, I am so grateful that the community has risen to look out for those who are dealing with food insecurity. There is a tremendous success story in my riding, in St. Thomas, called Harvest Hands, which is a service that rescues surplus food from farms, distributors and manufacturers and makes sure it goes to places in need, such as food banks.
Last week, I took a tour of the Ronald McDonald House in London, which feeds families that are dealing with children in hospital, in part because of contributions from the community and other partners, including Harvest Hands. However, the community's willingness and ability to meet this need is still because this need is there.
I am calling on the government in my question tonight, and our Conservative team has been calling on the government for quite some time, to put forward a real food affordability plan that does not just offer Canadians some temporary support but actually deals with the cost drivers.
I understand food prices are complex. There is no one single input to food inflation, which is why I believe the federal government and all levels of government must pull every lever available to them. I do not just come with a problem; I come with solutions. We have put forward repeatedly the idea of removing the industrial carbon tax, which makes it more costly for producers, manufacturers and shippers. We have talked about the importance of getting rid of the fuel standard, a 17¢-a-litre tax which cannot but drive up the cost of shipping food and drive up the cost of agriculture. We have talked about supports for our farmers.
The fact that the 7.3% food inflation rate is what Canadians are dealing with is especially important because it is a made-in-Canada problem. That is double the inflation rate for food we are seeing in the United States. It is the highest among G7 countries.
Where is the government's solution to truly bring down the price of food? That is my question.