NDP calls on government to fund school lunch program in upcoming budget

The NDP is calling on the federal government to announce a national school lunch program in the upcoming federal budget, to be released on April 16.

The party says a national program would help children learn by providing them with healthy meals every day, while offering some relief to parents who are struggling with high food prices.

«Parents are doing everything they can to take care of their kids, but the cost of food just keeps going up,» NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in a media statement released Wednesday.

«In a country as rich as ours, no child should ever have to go to school hungry.»

While the program is not one of the conditions of the Liberal-NDP supply and confidence agreement — which sees New Democrats support the Liberal government on key votes in exchange for action on NDP policy priorities — Singh told a press conference in B.C. on Wednesday that his party will «ramp up the pressure» on the federal government to roll out a national program.

«I want the government to understand that this is our demand, we're pushing for it, we want to see it happen,» he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has shown some interest already in a school meals program. Its 2021 election platform included a promise to invest $1 billion in a national school meal program over five years; it has yet to follow through on that promise.

In December of last year, a bill to develop a national framework for a school food program, tabled by Liberal MP Serge Cormier, made it to the committee stage in the House of Commons.

Liberal and NDP MPs voted in favour of the bill, while Conservatives voted against it.

The NDP's demand for a national plan comes as food bank usage surges across the country. A 2023 report from Food Banks Canada said