{"id":930076,"date":"2026-10-12T09:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/930076\/"},"modified":"2026-10-12T09:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:32:16","slug":"olivia-chow-pitches-school-food-program-expansion-critics-question-how-shell-pay-for-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/930076\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Chow pitches school food program expansion, critics question how she’ll pay for it"},"content":{"rendered":"

Olivia Chow says she\u2019ll create a citywide universal student nutrition program if re-elected mayor, a policy her chief rival says is well-meaning but unfunded and something experts say Toronto can\u2019t do alone.<\/p>\n

Chow made the campaign pledge earlier this week to expand the city\u2019s school food program, which currently provides midday snacks, to also cover lunch. The system serves about 330,000 students every day, with the city contributing $32 million this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mayor pitched the plan as a key affordability measure in her re-election bid, saying it will help the average family save $1,800 a year. But she could not say how much the expansion would cost taxpayers \u2014 only that it will be phased in by 2030 and done in conjunction with other levels of government and private donors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, when a child is hungry in school, they cannot focus,\u201d Chow said at a debate in Scarborough this week. \u201cWe have to do lunches because it will save parents a whole lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Toronto’s leading mayoral candidates face off:\"\"<\/p>\n

FULL DEBATE | Toronto’s leading mayoral candidates face off<\/p>\n

Toronto’s top issues were up for debate Thursday as leading mayoral candidates Olivia Chow and Brad Bradford faced off ahead of the municipal election. Watch the full debate in the player above.Bradford questions how Chow will pay for promise<\/p>\n

Coun. Brad Bradford, Chow\u2019s main challenger in the race, said while he supports the idea, the mayor has not said how the city will pay for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat concerns me about the proposal in front of us today about lunch programs is, of course, there is no national program for that. There is no provincial program for that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Chow shot back that she can bring the other governments onside.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat matters is taking the leadership, having the vision, to say this is what we need, and having the ambition and the courage to say that no kids should be hungry in school,\u201d Chow said.<\/p>\n

Right now, the city\u2019s student food program is funded by all three levels of government and private donors and grants. According to a Toronto Public Health presentation<\/a> from last year, in 2024-2025, the city received $4.7 million in federal funding and $8.5 million in provincial funding for school food programs. That left the city as the largest funding source at $21.9 million, which was upped to $32 million in the 2026 budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s first budget includes plans to give the program permanent funding of $216.6 million. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Neither the federal government or province could say Friday if they are committed to funding an expansion of Toronto’s plan to a universal program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, the federal government announced<\/a> it would spend $1 billion over five years to work with provinces on implementing a school food program. Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s first budget includes plans to give the program permanent funding of $216.6 million. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the federal government said it recognizes there is not a \u201cone-size-fits-all\u201d approach to school food programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is why the National School Food Program bilateral agreements provide the flexibility for each province and territory to determine their priorities with federal funding that respond to regional and local need,\u201d said Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson Natalie Huneault.<\/p>\n

Last October, the provincial government added $5 million in spending to its student nutrition program, bringing it to a $37.5 million total spend for 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Research suggests school food programs effective: expert<\/p>\n

There is a growing body of research that shows school food programs have clear benefit, said Jason Gilliland, the director of the Human Environments Analysis Lab at Western University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Studies have shown that these programs can improve diet quality overall, they can help students with learning,” Gilliland said. <\/p>\n

But while the number of programs is growing across Canada, the current approach to student nutrition is a patchwork, he added.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Toronto city council approved the expansion of its school food program, which provides a midday snack, with an eye to achieving a universal lunch program that serves breakfast and lunch no later than 2030.<\/p>\n

The motion passed with only one vote against.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coun. Stephen Holyday questioned whether it was the role of city government to provide the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s multiple millions of dollars in this budget, and ask yourself how perhaps that money could be better used to target towards those families that are so in desperate need that they can’t put food on the table every day,\u201d he told fellow councillors during debate at the time.<\/p>\n

Advocates say universal programs removes barriers<\/p>\n

But advocates disagree, saying universality pulls down barriers that limit participation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the stigma of having to raise your hand and say, ‘I’m a poor kid and I’m going to go eat in the poor kid’s cafeteria’ is fairly intense,\u201d said Debbie Field, national co-ordinator for Coalition for Healthy School Food, the country\u2019s largest school food advocacy network.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Piloting the universal program in a way that does not force families to participate and learns from those who do, will be critical, she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Advocates for expanding student nutrition programs say ensuring they’re universal removes stigma and encourages access for children who need support. (Ben Nelms\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Field stood with Chow at her announcement this week, but said the organization is non-partisan and noted that at earlier debates, all of the major mayoral candidates said they would not cut the current program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city of Toronto is a very wealthy city, and though there are huge pressures on the budget, there are many instances when it can lead and then bring in other levels of government, and I think this is one of those cases,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The need for the universal program is clear to the Daily Bread Food Bank, which has seen visits jump from 1.45 million in 2021 to 4.1 million in 2025. Providing food to children in schools through a universal program could help address that need, said Sahar Raza, the vice-president of research and advocacy at the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re serving over 200,000 people across the city, and one in four of those are children,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raza estimates it could cost anywhere from an additional $20 to $80 million a year to create a universal food program across the city. Upper levels of government will need to help the city offset startup costs of a universal program, but the city can find savings through its large purchasing power over the long run, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a new program, schools don’t have kitchens, fridges to be able to provide these meals,\u201d Raza said. \u201cI think we’re going to see some of that cost front-loaded. But then, over time, it’s really just about bulk purchasing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olivia Chow says she\u2019ll create a citywide universal student nutrition program if re-elected mayor, a policy her chief…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":930077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-930076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=930076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/930076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/930077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=930076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=930076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=930076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}