Liberals commit $1 billion to new national school food program

The federal Liberal government is finally making good on a years-old election campaign pledge, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland committing Monday to allocate $1 billion over five years to fund a new national school food program.

The federal Liberal government is finally making good on a years-old election campaign pledge, with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland committing Monday to allocate $1 billion over five years to fund a new national school food program.

The funding, to be included in the upcoming April 16 budget, will launch with the aim of expanding existing school food programs, providing meals to an additional 400,000 Canadian kids a year. 

Vowing to work with provinces, territories, and Indigenous partners on implementation — as he has with other recent pre-budget pledges — the federal government is framing this funding as offering a safety net for kids and families facing food insecurity.

During the 2021 election campaign, the federal government promised to "develop a National School Food Policy and work towards a national school nutritious meal program with a $1 billion dollar investment over five years."

After the pledge was mentioned in the 2022 federal budget with no funding attached, and left out again in 2023, advocates warned the future of schools' ability to keep offering meals to students was in jeopardy due to an influx in students accessing school food programs, and skyrocketing food costs without proportional program funding increases.

Citing food price inflation and studies indicating Canadians are changing their eating habits as a result of these economic strains, advocates told CTV News at the time that a national school food program was more needed now than when the pledge was initially made. 

School meal programs offering hungry students something to eat already exist in varying forms in all provinces and territories, though federal statistics say that they only reach approximately 21 per cent of school-age children.