Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I think this discussion on this motion is turning into something that the motion to delete is not. I think we are talking about two different things here. The government is saying yes, support the $400,000. Why then can it not clearly be described to us what the $400,000 is for? Because if it is for a steering committee, I don’t support it. You can buy a lot of food for $400,000 and if we thought it was a milk subsidy or a food breakfast program for children and we keep talking about the communities, this would be, I assume, unless we want to specifically target to small communities, I assume this is all communities. So why is there such a failure on the part of the department and the Minister to explain to us what this is?
I don’t like being asked to say trust us, support us, we can’t tell you what we are going to spend it on, but, you know, leave it in the budget. That is where I have a problem. If that is the case, we might as well just take this entire budget document and say we trust you, go ahead, spend the money how you see fit. But that is why we go through this process of trying to look at this budget on a line-by-line, department-by-department basis. That is why it is called detail, so that we can understand what the money is budgeted for.
I am right now, sitting here, having listened to the Minister, I mean, this thing seems like it has morphed about three or four times. It started off as... When it first came in the business plans it was one thing; by the time it made it to the budget address, it was something else; and by the time it made it actually here to the floor of the House it has turned into something else again.
This is not mad money, we all support nutritious food for children in our schools. Let’s be clear about that. If that is what this is, I am all for leaving it in there, but if this is for a steering committee to look and study and review and, you know, absorb that money on travel and all kinds of things, then, no, I don’t support it.
There are lots of organizations out there right now that are dealing with this whole issue of nutritious food in the schools, I shouldn’t say lots of organizations, but there are organizations, there are good non-government organizations that are dealing with this. So if I could hear, Mr. Chairman,
the Minister say that this is going to actually translate into food for school children, not a review of the food basket, not the establishment of a steering committee, then I would totally support leaving that money in there. If I even, during the debate on this motion, could hear the Minister say that, I think that would affect how I vote, but right now I just don’t know. Thank you.