National food policy an election issue?

Food Secure Canada has been advocating for a national food policy in Canada for several years. With the upcoming fall federal election the advocacy group has formed a coalition with farmers, food banks, and community food organizations to raise several food issues during the campaign.

“Eat, Think, Vote”  is the slogan for the events they intend to organize with motivated Canadians in an effort to educate the politicians. The idea is to get a goup of citizens, together with their local candidates, over a meal and have a discussion about the particular needs and initiatives that would improve food access in that area.

“We really need to ensure that farmers in Canada remain farmers and entrepreneurs and do not just become workers for a foreign investment firm.”

Diana Bronson, executive director of Food Secure Canada, says “we’ve had an agricultural policy that is uniquely focused on exports, and what we actually see the Canadian public wanting is more access to local food.”

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Food Secure Canada is focusing on four issues, including support for new farmers and helping them access land and the inputs necessary to start farming, hunger and food insecurity, a universal school food program, and the food crisis in in Canada’s northern communities.

Diana Bronson acknowledges the food system is complex but she says policy changes can provide far-reaching benefits. As an example she sites Canada as one of the few western countries that does not have a universal school food program. Along with other concerned groups, Food Secure Canada is calling for a national investment to provide children with enough nutrition to allow them to thrive at school.

86 per cent of Canadians want local food.

Bronson says among that among the 4 million Canadians that are hungry, the food crisis in Canada’s north has to be addressed. The exorbitant price of transporting food has created a system wherein the government subsidizes retailers when it should be subsidizing families, according to Bronson.

Support for farmers is an emerging issue when the price of land is soaring. Bronson said, “I was just in British Columbia where the speculation on the price of land is putting it right out of reach for the next generation of farmers.” She says, “we really need to ensure that farmers in Canada remain farmers and entrepreneurs and do not just become workers for a foreign investment firm.”

Diana Bronson says that’s the thinking behind the “Eat, Think Vote” strategy. “Part of these discussions that we’ll be holding across the country will be to educate politicians about these needs and to get them working on it once they’re elected to office.”