Meals Will Have to Cost Under $3 for National School Food Program to Hit Target

The federal government’s plan to feed 400,000 schoolchildren a day with a school food program was based on the cost of meals being under $3 per child. Promises made by the government will only be met if each meal costs $2.78, which is below the minimum cost identified by the Breakfast Club of Canada, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter. “We would need at least $3 to $6 per child per day,” Judith Barry, co-founder of the Breakfast Club, testified before the Senate national finance committee. “There are 180 school days. We would need billions,” she said. A 2023 report from the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Medicine did not find any programs that could feed kids for $2.78 a day, saying the average cost for lunch programs is $6.45 per person....