Ottawa, ON – Laila Goodridge, Conservative Shadow Minister for Families, Children and Social Development, released the following statement on testimony before the Human Resources Committee showing that the Liberal National School Food Program is falling short:

“This week, Canadians learn that the Liberals’ claim to feed 400,000 children through their billion-dollar National School Food Program is just another empty promise.

“Justin Trudeau called this program a ‘game-changer.’ Yet Judith Barry, co-founder of Breakfast Club of Canada, told the Human Resources Committee that after years of Liberal inflation, their $1 billion pledge now only buys about $783 million worth of food. That’s just 78 cents on the dollar.

“In 2021, the program amounted to just 22 cents per student each day. Today, that money stretches even less while Liberal debt and inflation has driven up the cost of groceries, gas, housing and everyday essentials.

“Five years later, the Liberal government still has not shown Canadians how it arrived at its claim that 400,000 children would be fed. Even the Canadian Institutes of Health Research said that ‘more data are needed to better understand the impact of school food programs.’

“The Liberals were warned. In 2024, the Breakfast Club’s Barry said that feeding 400,000 children daily would cost far more than $1 billion. Yet the Liberals continued repeating a promise without showing Canadians the results.

“Since the Liberals announced this program in 2021, food prices are up 27.3 per cent, grocery costs are up 27.6 per cent and meat prices have increased 27.2 per cent. The Liberals created an affordability crisis with more Canadians visiting food banks than ever in Canadian history. This year, an average family of four must pay nearly $6,000 just to cover interest on the debt Liberals keep accumulating.

“Instead of giving Canadians real relief, the Liberals wasted another billion dollars on a program built on promises they still cannot prove they delivered. Canadians deserve results.

“Conservatives will continue fighting for real solutions to bring down the cost of food for children and their families. We will save Canadians money by extending the federal fuel tax holiday, removing the GST from gas and diesel, scrapping the industrial carbon tax and eliminating the costly Clean Fuel Regulations.

“Canadians need lower costs, lower taxes and a government focused on results, not headlines.”