The proposed plan comes as food prices continue to cause political headaches for governments across the country, said Tyler Meredith, a policy thinker and former economic adviser to Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
That money is urgently needed, community food groups argue, as Canadians increasingly struggle to put food on the table and many families find themselves in food bank lineups. While education doesn't fall under federal jurisdiction, a national lunch program would allow Ottawa to partner up with provinces and territories, many of which are already doing the work alongside community groups.
Providing school lunches as a national program allows Ottawa to use its spending power"in a smart way that helps to address and alleviate concerns associated with inflation," Meredith said. "We believe that there is no other initiative that the federal government could take that would — for the money spent — have as big an impact on supporting food affordability and helping families than investing in a national school food program in budget 2024," said Carolyn Webb, mobilization coordinator with The Coalition of Healthy School Food, Canada's largest school food network.