Editor's note: For the 2019 federal election, BarrieToday teamed up with a journalism student to provide extra coverage on important issues.
The interviews conducted during this Q-and-A series were done by Emily Hsueh from Algonquin College in Ottawa. The issues and topics of discussion focused mainly on youth and young adults in Canada and the Barrie-Innisfil riding. The answers have been edited for length and clarity.
This installment touches on the the issue of food distribution in the community.
Liberal candidate Lisa-Marie Wilson and People’s Party candidate Stephanie Robinson could not be reached after several attempts.
With shelves at food banks going bare, what will you do to ensure consistent, easy access to healthy meals for youth?
NDP Pekka Reinio
We do have something in our platform about community growing food locally and those programs can be used to support young people, whether they’re in school or homeless to ensure they have meals for them. We do have a policy in place to help growing their own food, community gardens.
We are also working towards a school nutrition program that will give children to healthy food and food literacy to make health choices, working with farmers to support them with initiatives like food hubs and Canadian support agriculture so the food is consumed locally. And to work with farmers and food producers to develop a national food policy, and also a food waster strategy because a lot of food is wasted.
Green Bonnie North
The guaranteed livable income. When people have been on guarantee livable income, they make decisions for their lives that are appropriate to their lives. And one of those things is buying food for themselves.
Something as simple as that, because they have that income that doesn’t put them below a floor and leave them choosing between rent and food.
We believe we can deal with people having adequate funds for food through the guaranteed livable income, through making sure they have affordable housing. When they have more money in their pockets because they’re not paying so much money in rent, when they have a guaranteed income coming in not only to pay their rent, but to be able to afford food, then they don’t have to rely on emergency food rations anymore.
And if they do, it’s not to the extent that they do. We only have one food bank here in Barrie, and while it’s an important resource in the community, the reason it goes bare is because we only have one food bank. It is extremely inadequate and until we deal with everyone, youth are going to suffer for that.
I’m very familiar with this through work with a community group that I work with called the Urban Pantry, which is trying to encourage urban and suburban farming. I realize it’s only part of a solution not the only solution, but people can start having some fresh food that they can grow themselves.
We want to have community gardens all over the city. These are the kinds of solutions we want to offer, but the way we’re going to deal with this is dealing with poverty, and we’re going to deal with it by making sure youth still have jobs.
Conservative John Brassard
You’re quite right as far food banks. The demand is great, but I think it speaks to the broader issue of ensuring that there is opportunity for young people to find the type of employment that they need so they don’t have to rely on food banks.
One of the things the government can do is create an environment for economic sustainability, and jobs and job growth. We do that by using the levers of lower taxations for businesses ensuring that they have an opportunity to prosper and as well to provide a regulatory environment where businesses aren’t burdened down with cumbersome regulations.
Business owners can actually focus on their job of growing their business and providing products and services that are in demand, and as that demand increases, there is an increase in employment.
I think what we need to focus on is that that opportunity exists for young people. We’re fortunate in Barrie that we’ve got a very entrepreneurial spirit here. Small businesses employ a lot of people here in Barrie, and, in fact, small- and medium-sized businesses employ 80 per cent of Canada’s population.
So as long as we create an environment where jobs and job growth can occur, that provides opportunity for young people. Not just on the issue of precarious work, but long-term viable employment that they can draw incomes from and therefore make some semblance of a life for themselves in terms of affordability, and with that come the healthy meals that you talked about.
I think that’s the role of the government to assure. As you said, the issue of food banks is we have two particular food banks in the riding of Barrie-Innisfil. Leading up to this Thanksgiving, the demand was great. But it speaks to the issue of affordability and there is a significant amount of affordability anxiety that exists not only within young people but all Canadians. They’re not getting ahead, they’re just getting by.
We as a government have to put them in a situation where they feel like life is affordable and we do that through the levers of taxation and making sure that people are keeping more money in their pockets so they can afford the basic necessities of life.
Other topics in the Q&A series are: homelessness and housing, the youth job market, crime, LGBTQ issues and the environment.
The federal election is Oct. 21. More local coverage is available here.
