I am glad to be here with the students, teachers and parents of this incredible school, Lord Roberts Elementary School, and the people of LunchLAB, who do something so amazing for the kids and the families and the communities here.
June 20, 2024 — Vancouver, BC
Good afternoon.
I am so glad to be here in Vancouver today with my colleagues, Harjit Sajjan and Terry Beech, the legendary Hedy Fry, in whose riding we are, Parm Bains and it is really nice to be joined by MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, representing the Government of B.C., and with Victoria Jung, the Chair of the Vancouver School Board.
I am glad to be here with the students, teachers and parents of this incredible school, Lord Roberts Elementary School, and the people of LunchLAB, who do something so amazing for the kids and the families and the communities here.
And I do want to recognize the amazing Brent Mansfield. He is known here as Mr. Brent—that’s what all the kids call him—who is an Edible Educator, clearly just a brilliant force of nature. He is a teacher here at Lord Roberts and a co-founder of LunchLAB.
How lucky all the kids are who you teach, Mr. Brent, how lucky this school is that you teach here, how lucky the parents are that you teach their kids, and how lucky Canada is that you have found a way to improve the lives not only of the kids you work with every day, but of all the kids in Canada.
Mr. Brent, when you ran 200 laps around Lord Roberts Elementary School, that was 92 kilometres, and did it again on the lawn of Parliament Hill to draw attention to the need for a national school food program—our government heard you loud and clear.
When students here at Lord Roberts sent the Prime Minister over 100 letters, delivered by Mr. Brent, telling him why school food matters to them, we heard you loud and clear. And I’m just going to take a moment to read from a few of those letters.
This is from someone in grade 7: “An investment in healthy school food is a good idea because the healthier the kids, the healthier the society. School food matters to me because kids should be healthy.”
Here is from another grade 7: “I am a Hungarian student. An investment in school food is a good idea because it can lighten the load for parents. School food matters to me because I can focus a lot better while not hungry. ”
And then from another grade 7 student: “An investment in healthy school food is a good idea because there are lots of kids that don’t have time or can’t afford food. And we need energy to play and get better grades. School food matters to me because sometimes kids need food when they don’t have any.”
How true. And how amazing that the kids here understand that and were able to advocate for themselves and for kids across the country so eloquently. Well, those arguments are irresistible because they’re true and today is proof of that.
I want to thank Mr. Brent and all the students and all the teachers and all the parents at Lord Roberts for your advocacy, and I want to thank all the advocates across Canada who have worked so hard to build the case and to make the arguments for this program.
As a mother of three, and actually as the first mother who’s ever been Finance Minister of Canada, I believe passionately that children are our country’s most precious resource. There is no better and no smarter investment we can make than an investment in our children.
Our government is delivering fairness for every generation—especially for younger Canadians.And making sure kids get the best start in life is very much a part of our plan.
It’s why, in our budget, we launched a new National School Food Program—so that every child in Vancouver and across Canada can have a fair chance at a good, healthy life.
We will invest $1 billion over five years into the Program, which will provide 400,000 more children across the country access to school food. That’s 400,000 more children per year, beyond those currently served by school food programs.
The Program is expected to save the average participating family with two children as much as $800 per year in grocery costs. That’s going to make a big difference. And we want to get started as early as the 2024-2025 school year. We must act now.
Today we are announcing the next step in our plan to make the National School Food Program a reality across Canada.
Earlier today, the Prime Minister unveiled the National School Food Policy which outlines our long-term vision for the delivery of the National School Food Program and school food programs across Canada.
Building on great school food programs already in place, the new Policy will guide our government’s work with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners to expand school food programs across the country.
Our shared focus will be on improving kids’ academic performance, health, and nutrition and, as one of those Lord Roberts students pointed out so eloquently, reducing hunger, because we know hungry kids can’t learn.
For kids, this program means not being hungry at school. It means kids will learn how to cook, kids will learn how to eat and be together.
And when you have a healthy delicious lunch—as everyone here at Lord Roberts knows—it is a lot easier to focus, to learn, to play, to grow.
Our government is delivering on our new National School Food Program to help set children up for success across Canada—while helping parents save hundreds of dollars a year. Because that is what it means to ensure fairness for every generation.
The kids here at Lord Roberts Elementary School understand what they need. They understand that they’re kids, and that we all should be supporting them. That’s what we’re going to do.
Thank you so much.
