Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to a preventative approach to addressing the root causes of issues that we face. Milk is the single most important nutrient to the healthy development and benefit of our youth. The issue has been brought to us by community representatives, by health workers and by educational workers and teachers. Many thanks to them for bringing this forward.

Many people have seen, or heard recently from my colleague, the frightening photographs of many of our youth who are in desperate need of dental surgery and the backload we have there to deal with. Sugary drinks, as I mentioned in the motion, are much cheaper than milk in some of our communities, and it’s most unfortunate. But when people can’t afford the appropriate thing, they’ll turn to substitutes, and in this case it’s damaging our youth.

This program is meant to be implemented in concert with important ongoing community and school nutritional programs, and I’m sure the government will make sure that that’s done. Many residents fail to benefit from Food Mail Program, as has been mentioned, particularly those in our small communities who don’t necessarily have the literacy and education required to take advantage of this — or even the tradition, like the tradition that’s developed among our professionals who are visiting our communities for short periods of time. It should be our intent to promote the full use of the Food Mail Program, and this will minimize the cost of this program and the subsidy to milk specifically to ensure efficient use of our subsidy dollars.

Finally, I’d like to just mention the long term benefits that this can bring. Healthy kids mean healthy bodies and strong minds, with resilience to the challenges we face. This investment will return benefits and savings in terms of the physical, mental and psychological well-being of our youth and our families, and we’ll notice that in our costs down the road. I urge all Members to support this motion. There’s been very good support in getting it to this stage and presenting the issue, and I thank everybody for that support.