School food advocates still waiting on promised funding for $1B National School Food Program

The federal government is already late on its first assignment for the 2024-25 school year. The promised funding for the long-awaited National School Food program has yet to be distributed, and agreements with the provinces, territories, and school boards have yet to be made. Despite the delay, school food advocates remain optimistic, but vow to keep the pressure on until the Liberals finally give them their lunch money. Last April, as part of the Liberals’ string of pre-budget announcements, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland (University-Rosedale, Ont.) announced that the long-awaited $1-billion over five years for school food—first promised in the Liberals’ 2021 election platform—would be included in the upcoming 2024 budget. The April 1 announcement was made at the Boys and Girls Club community centre in Scarborough, Ont., alongside Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds (Kanata–Carleton, Ont.), Women and Gender Equality and Youth Minister Marci Ien (Toronto Centre, Ont.), and several other members of the Liberals’ Toronto caucus. Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds, centre, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, right, announced the launch of the long-promised national school food program and accompanying $1-billion over five years at a Toronto press conference on April 1. Screenshot courtesy of CPAC During the announcement, Freeland said the program would provide “peace of mind” to parents struggling with the high cost of groceries across the country, and that she wanted the program to be ready to roll out by the beginning of the fall semester. The program aims to provide an additional $200-million per year—with an initial $79-million allotted for the 2024-25 school year, and increasing each year after—to expand existing programs offered by provinces, territories, and individual school boards to feed an additional 400,000 students. Breakfast Club of Canada (BCC) co-founder Judith Barry, who attended the April press conference, told The Hill Times it was a “privilege” to be a part of the “historic announcement.” However, as the summer comes to a close and students prepare to return to class, she said she is becoming concerned that the program won’t be ready for the fall semester. Breakfast Club of Canada’s co-founder Judith Barry says she didn't expect all of the $78-million to be ready for the first day of school, but will keep the pressure on until it is. Photograph courtesy of the Breakfast Club of Canada Barry said that she has heard from provincial education ministers who have not yet heard back from the federal government, as well as confused Liberal caucus members who were under the impression that funding had already begun to be distributed. “Something is wrong,” Barry said, adding that BCC’s data indicates there are still more than 800,000 students who will not be reached by the current programs with their existing funding. However, Debbie Field, a co-ordinator with the Coalition for Healthy School Food, told The Hill Times she remains as excited as she was when the program was announced. While the program wasn't ready for the first day of school, she said she expects some of the money to begin flowing by the end of September or early October. “From the conversations we’ve had, the federal government has approached everyone with letters and proposed amounts … negotiations are underway,” Field explained, adding that from the impression she has, at least one or two agreements could be signed “very soon.” “The money should flow for this year,” Field said. Debbie Field, a co-ordinator with the Coalition for Healthy School Food, says Canada now has 'one of the best' school food policies in the world. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn Field said she can understand why the BCC may be getting nervous—noting that she only has minimal information regarding the status of the negotiations other than that they are happening—but said it is wise for the feds to keep the discussions under the radar until they are completed. “They have to be quiet about this part because it would be the worst thing in the world to make the provinces jittery,” Field said. However, Field said she can’t understand why the federal government has been so quiet about releasing its National School Food Policy, which was announced with relatively minimal fanfare on June 20 compared to the national program. The new policy will set out the “vision, principles, and objectives” for school food programs across the country. According to the Employment and Social Development Canada press release, it will guide the creation of the national program “in collaboration with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners, with a focus on accessibility, flexibility, inclusivity, sustainability, and better health." The new policy builds on a "What We Heard Report" released on Oct. 31, 2023, summarizing feedback from the more than 5,000 responses the government received to its online questionnaire in the last two months of 2022. An overwhelming 96 per cent of respondents indicated support for the school food program, and the belief that it will benefit students by teaching healthy habits and helping them stay focused during the day. “Canada now has one of the best school food policies in the world,” Field said, noting that it just fell short of programs in Finland or Japan, whose policies are empowered by legislative authority. In those countries, school children are provided meals “as a right” under existing legislation, which Field said Canada’s program still needs. “But this policy is aspirational, and it can grow,” Field said, adding that despite the room for improvement, she is more than happy with what already has been provided by the national policy and program funding. “After years of people saying it would never happen in Canada, we got it,” Field said, adding that she hopes the program will be one that future governments of any stripe will continue to support. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Carleton, Ont.) has not directly addressed whether a government led by him would support the program or continue the current level of funding. In a press conference following the April 1 announcement, Poilievre called the program “ironic” given Trudeau is “promising a federal food bureaucracy in Ottawa, the same day as he raises taxes on food,” referring to that day's increase to the federal carbon price. In a statement to The Hill Times, Conservative critic for families, children, and social development Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough–Kawartha, Ont.) also did not directly answer whether her party would keep the program in place, but blamed the Liberal government for the rising cost of living where "one in four kids do not get enough to eat." "While Trudeau was creating his food bureaucracy in Ottawa, he simultaneously raised the carbon tax by 23 per cent on parents who already can’t afford to put food on the table after nine years of his disastrous policies. Instead of listening to the majority of Canadians who said they didn’t want his tax hike, he announced a photo op program that leaves out 92 per cent of kids and expects parents to thank him," Ferreri said. NDP agriculture and agri-food critic Alistair MacGregor (Cowichan–Malahat–Langford, B.C.) called the delay another example of how “out of touch” the Liberals have become, and demanded the funding be delivered “immediately.” “This is a letdown for families who are stretching every dollar they have to put food on the table,” MacGregor wrote in a statement. “New Democrats believe that all kids should have the food they need to grow and learn. Parents shouldn’t have to scrimp and save so they can feed their kids.” However, Fair said she is optimistic that even Poilievre’s Conservatives will support the program, pointing to the increasing buy-in from the provinces, including several led by conservative parties. Most recently, the Nova Scotia government led by Progressive Conservative Premier Tim Houston announced it would be increasing the funding for its provincial school food program to $18.8-million, and moving to a “pay-what-you-can” model. Phase 1 of the program will roll out on Oct. 1 in every elementary school, providing lunches to more than 750,000 students in 255 schools. Those lunches will be offered for $6.50 per student, and families can choose to pay the total cost, a portion, or nothing, and all payment information will remain confidential. Field said that Nova Scotia will now have “one of the most impressive universal programs” in the country, particularly as it comes from a smaller conservative-led province. “That is huge,” Field said. Nova Scotia joins provinces like Prince Edward Island, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador, which have significantly increased funding and expanded to a universal model in the past two years. Additionally, while Quebec has yet to implement a fully universal program, the government has substantially increased its funding, Field explained. In total, Field said that the various provincial, territorial, and school board programs will now provide more than $288-million per year, which is greater than what would be provided in federal funding. While Barry said that she understands that the rollout will take time and hadn’t expected the entire $78-million to be ready by the first day of school, she said it is essential to keep the pressure on the federal government to accelerate negotiations to leverage as much funding as soon as possible. Alongside the existing gaps and the increased cost of living, Barry said that demand for BCC programs has continued to grow. BCC currently feeds more than 650,000 students through 3,800 programs across Canada. “We have more students signing up for Breakfast Club programs, and more programs across the country that our support still can’t reach,” Barry explained, adding that there has been an unintended negative impact on donations to the BCC since the program was announced. It isn’t just Liberal caucus members who had mistakenly believed programs like the BCC had already received funding, Barry said, explaining that regular donors also had to be informed that their donations were still needed to meet the existing gaps. Until the federal funding begins to flow, the BCC has launched a Back-to-School fundraising campaign, with the MTY Foundation pledging matching donations up to $100,000 raised. In response to The Hill Times’ request for comment, Sudds’ office confirmed she is in “active negotiations … with the goal of signing our first agreement as soon as possible.” “Each province and territory have a different starting point, and we want to provide the flexibility for our partners to invest according to the highest needs in their jurisdiction,” wrote Margaret Jaques, Sudds' director of communication. sbenson@hilltimes.com The Hill Times EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated on Sept. 3 to add comment from the NDP, and to correctly identify Nova Scotia's school food program funding as $18.8-million, not $30-million.

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School food advocates still waiting on promised funding for $1B National School Food Program

Coalition for Healthy School Food’s Debbie Field now hopes ‘one or two’ provincial school food agreements will be signed before winter after missing the fall semester rollout goal.

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