After identical promises in 2019 and 2021, this time around, apparently, there is actually going to be money allocated – $1-billion over five years – when the federal budget is tabled on April 16.
It’s not clear how many Canadian kids go to school hungry, or eat poorly, but in their own materials back in 2021, the Liberals said that more than three million Canadian schoolchildren were “living without guaranteed access to nutritious school meals.” Done properly, school meals can even be an integral part of the curriculum, teaching kids about nutrition, agriculture, climate change, and more.
The most ambitious program in the country is probably Bon Appétit in PEI, which offers “affordable” school lunches to every child in the province from kindergarten through to Grade 12. But, at $5.75 per meal, there is no free school lunch.