MPP Jonah Schein Publishes Op-Ed on Food and Student Nutrition

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Author: Jenn Kucharczyk

Posted: January 11, 2013

Categories: Edible Education Network / Food in the News / Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario

MPP Jonah Schein speaks out on local food and school nutrition programs in this week’s issue of NOW Toronto Magazine. In his editorial, Schein identifies the Commissioner’s Report on Social Assistance, the Aggregate Resources Act, and Bill 130, the Promoting Local Food Act as three avenues for addressing regional food insecurity within the political system in 2013.

Below is an excerpt from Schein’s article:

“We need a more positive politics in 2013. Let’s put food on the table. To start, we need to deal with the growing dependence on food banks and move forward with social assistance reform to address the food insecurity of welfare recipients. Ontario also needs to update the Aggregate Resources Act to protect farmland and prevent future mega-quarries.

As well, we have to start a food conversation in our schools, where too many kids arrive hungry and where we see the growing costs of obesity and diabetes. Along those same lines, let’s stop advertising junk food to kids – something my colleague Rosario Marchese has long proposed.

Instead of selling off valuable school land, let’s transform those buildings into vibrant community hubs and move toward having a kitchen and a garden at every school.”

Read the full article on NOW Magazine’s website.