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Healthy, delicious school food could soon be on the plates of millions of Canadian children after the federal government recently committed to tackling the issue at a national level.

In December, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tasked the ministers responsible for agriculture and children and social development with creating a national policy for school food. It is the first time the federal government has committed to supporting school food programs. These programs typically provide free or heavily subsidized breakfasts and lunches to all students, and have been shown to improve public health, support learning, and boost economic growth.

Canada is the only G7 country without a national school food program, ranking 37th out of the world's 41 wealthiest countries when it comes to feeding schoolchildren, according to a 2017 UNICEF study. The situation is particularly dire in Qubec and the Western provinces, where only a fraction of schools have food programs. In contrast, almost all schools in the Atlantic provinces and the three territories have meal programs, according to 2021 research from the University of Guelph.

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After the pandemic hit, "school food was revealed to be essential" as food-insecure children who previously relied on schools to eat at least one healthy meal a day were left hungry, explained Debbie Field, executive director for the Coalition for Healthy School Food. The non-profit organization has spent the past several years advocating for a national school food program, but the health crisis was an "epochal moment" enough to spark major change.

Researchers studying school food on a global scale say a lack of nutritious meals for students has a negative impact on all children, not only those who are food-insecure. Eating enough healthy food is vital for brain development, making it essential to help kids get the most benefit from their education, explained Donald Bundy, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

"It's not actually about feeding children, it's about making sure that (their) nutrition is right at a time that determines the rest of their lives, what they achieve in the rest of their lives."

School meal programs also promote community building and food education, and can be an important market for local farmers, fishers and food processors, the University of Guelph study noted.

For instance, Prince Edward Island implemented Canada's first universal pay-what-you-can school meal program in 2020 with the intention of supporting the province's students and farming community. Moreover, several Indigenous governments from Haida Gwaii to Yukon are using school food programs to bolster cultural, language and land-based education, Field said.

While developing a federal school food program will take time, Field said support for pre-existing programs in the next federal budget would be a good start to tackling the issue. In their 2021 election platform, the Liberals pledged $1 billion over five years to help the provinces, territories and Indigenous governments implement school food programs. If the funding comes through, it will be the most ever spent on food policy in Canada.

The Coalition for Healthy School Foods estimates a well-crafted school food program would cost about $2.6 billion, or "about $5 a day per kid," Field said. Yet even if the government ends up spending less, it would be a "great first step."

Helping schools build kitchens and other infrastructure is key, she added. So is ensuring that existing programs follow the 2019 Canada Food Guide not just by putting healthy meals on children's plates but by teaching students about food and cooking.

Strengthening Canadas food system, with a particular emphasis on developing a National School Food Policy and working towards a national school nutritious meal program is a priority for the Government of Canada," said a spokesperson for Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. They did not provide a timeline or details on how much the government plans to spend on the issue.

Still, Field is hopeful the pandemic has encouraged the government to take on this issue. She wants to see the Liberals act swiftly in the next budget to ensure kids have food universally available at school.

"It will make a big difference," she said. "During COVID and during high food prices, it's important to roll it out soon and not spend the next 20 years talking."

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Finally, Liberals are putting school food programs on the menu - National Observer

The Liberals' 2021 election platform did not include a timeline for eliminating the deficit, nor did Finance Minister Chrystia Freelands December fiscal update.GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images

Federal government spending on outsourcing contracts has increased by more than 40 per cent since the Liberals took power, a trend at odds with the partys 2015 campaign promise to cut back on the use of consultants.

A Globe and Mail analysis of federal records shows Ottawa spent $11.8-billion in the 2020-21 fiscal year on contracts. That represents a 41.8-per-cent increase from the $8.4-billion spent in the 2015-16 fiscal year, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberal government was first elected.

Ottawa turns to consulting firm McKinsey to fix Phoenix pay system, doubling spending

The Globes analysis examined the latest available data in the governments public accounts related to spending on outside contracts in the category of professional and special services.

This category includes things such as management consulting services, legal services, IT services, temporary help and security guards.

The growth in outsourcing has not coincided with a smaller public service. The number of federal government workers increased from 257,034 to 319,601 between 2015 and 2021, a 24 per cent rise.

Queens University economist Don Drummond, who has held senior federal government roles and who once led a spending review for the Ontario government, said outsourcing can be effective and efficient when it involves bringing in specialized expertise that isnt available in the civil service.

However, it is concerning that both contract and bureaucracy costs have risen sharply, he said. To a degree, this might be related to the extraordinary increase in federal government activities flowing from COVID. But the situation calls for careful analysis that more and more inputs are not being thrown into producing about the same service. That would indicate a deterioration in effectiveness and efficiency.

The 2015 Liberal platform pledged to free up $3-billion a year through a spending review, which it said would include reducing the use of external consultants.

The increased spending on contracts continues a trend identified in a January, 2020, report by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), a union that primarily represents scientists and professionals in the federal public service. That report focused more narrowly on service contracts in the areas of management consulting, temporary help and IT consultants.

The report notes that spending on IT consultants and management consultants more than doubled between 2011 and 2018.

Rather than Public Accounts data, the PIPSC analysis was based on the governments disclosure of federal contracts, which is subject to frequent revisions as the terms of contracts are posted and adjusted. The union told The Globe its approach allowed for a more targeted look at the outsourcing of personnel spending, given that the Public Accounts data can include other costs, such as fees for software.

The unions report points to the problem-plagued Phoenix pay system as an example of outsourcing gone wrong.

Phoenix was designed under the previous Conservative government through an outsourcing arrangement with IBM. The Liberal government launched the system in 2016. Phoenix has since caused frequent errors that have left workers unpaid, underpaid or overpaid, resulting in widespread disruptions and distress throughout the public service.

The Globe reported in December that the government has paid $560-million in damages so far to public servants as a result of the Phoenix problems. The cost of compensation is approaching twice the $309-million spent by the federal government between 2009 and 2016 to develop the system, which was supposed to generate long-term savings.

The PIPSC analysis highlighted a common practice in which the government initially awards a contract to a company at a relatively low cost following a public competition. Then the value of the contract is increased substantially through amendments. The PIPSC analysis found that IT contracts generally end up costing more than twice what the government originally expected.

In an interview, PIPSC president Jennifer Carr said the growth in outsourcing is creating a shadow public service that works alongside public servants, but is not subject to the same rules in areas like language requirements, employment equity and diversity.

Ms. Carr said outsourcing should focus on short-term needs and allow for the long-term work to be handled by the public service, but she said that often does not happen.

Its not in the best interests of the contractor to give any of that information up to the public service, because basically they would be consulting themselves out of their own job, she said.

Because these contracts are reopened multiple times They wind up ballooning from small amounts to almost triple or quadruple the cost, and its really hard to track the final value of the real cost of the contract because of the reopening.

Isabella Brisson, a spokesperson for Treasury Board president Mona Fortier, defended Ottawas outsourcing approach.

The procurement of professional services is needed to acquire special expertise, and to meet unexpected fluctuations in workload, she said in a statement. Shortages in certain employment groups and specific geographic locations make the use of external professional services necessary to maintain operations. For example, nurses are hired through this mechanism to deliver temporary health care in Northern Canada.

The statement also noted that departments are required to exercise due diligence and effective stewardship of public funds and that all contracts must be issued in accordance with Treasury Board rules.

From a government-wide perspective, the Liberals had been falling behind their own deficit-reduction projections prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The deficit then grew dramatically as the pandemic led to reduced tax revenue, and to increased emergency spending to support Canadian workers and businesses.

The 2015 Liberal platform promised that the party would run three years of deficits of no more than $10-billion before balancing the governments books in 2019-20.

Instead, the Liberal government posted deficits of $19-billion in 2016-17, $19-billion in 2017-18, $14-billion in 2018-19, $39.3-billion in 2019-20 and $327.7-billion in 2020-21.

The Liberal Partys 2021 election platform did not include a timeline for eliminating the deficit, nor did Finance Minister Chrystia Freelands December fiscal update. That update did estimate the size of the deficit would decline to $13.1-billion by 2026-27, though those bottom-line projections do not take into account the billions in new spending promised in the 2021 platform. Updates on that spending are expected in Ms. Freelands 2022 budget.

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Liberals spend billions more on outsourced contracts since taking power - The Globe and Mail

If I were president of the United States, the number one priority would be the security of the country. This means a strong military. It appears we have become complacent by not responding appropriately to acts of aggression by other nations.

At times we dont display a strong resolve to defend ourselves and act decisively to promote our position in the world. A strong military, not necessarily to be used randomly, creates the concept of Show of Force, which is the first defense we have to contain those who would do us harm.

The second priority I would insist on is energy independence. We were on the road to energy independence until the Biden administration cancelled the Keystone Pipeline. By doing so, he eliminated a number of good paying jobs and left us again dependent on foreign oil. Can anyone tell me why that pipeline project was canceled and for what good reason?

The next priority and probably number one on some peoples list who live in the western states is the illegal migrants entering the country. Can someone explain to me why the construction of the wall around our southern border was stopped? Controlling our boarders is a security issue for the legal residents here.

Flooding the economy with easy money creates inflation. There are people struggling and public assistance may be necessary. Those folks who stay at home and chose not to work due to government benefit programs lose respect for themselves and the people around them. There is a great deal of satisfaction coming home from a decent days work that creates a positive life experience. Inflation is a silent tax that does most harm to the lower-income wage earners.

Can anyone name the greatest accomplishments of the Biden administration over the past 12 months? I would be curious to know.

A few other points that come to mind; at times we Americans dont get along. There is no longer the concept of compromise between the two political parties. Commentary is rude and abusive. Private lives are no longer private. Television networks have become propaganda machines. Controlling our reading material and what is broadcast all seemed to have an agenda. This needs to stop before it becomes irreversible.

My final thought; President Obama was unique. We will never have such a powerful individual come to the White House with the greatest opportunity our country could ask for and not deliver. He was unique because of his racial background. A good and persuasive speaker that could have done wonders for this country in mending the fences between white and Black folks and bringing this country together. He chose not to do that. He did the opposite; he widened the divide between the races. That was his biggest failure of his administration.

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Rich Luccarelli: Here's a list of reasons why liberals are ruining America - Conway Daily Sun

Thursdays meeting could endorse Mr Judah, who was the Liberal candidate for Bentleigh at the 2018 state election, overturn the result and order a fresh preselection, or wait for further information.

Last week upper house Liberal leader David Davis, representing Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, and Sarah Henderson, representing federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, spoke in favour of the status quo.

State party president Robert Clark recommended that the partys constitutional committee examine the vote.

If the committee members loyal to Mr Clark decide the electoral irregularities are too great, then the preselection would be overturned by a vote of 10-9.

Party state secretary Sam McQuestin is yet to give a recommendation to the committee.

Over the summer the party secretariat, who have been installing a new membership database, took to calling members in an attempt to ascertain their eligibility, which is determined by residence of an electorate, length of party membership and payment of membership dues.

In October the independent Electoral Boundaries Commission created the new seats of Ashwood, taking in Burwood and Box Hill, and Glen Waverley after scrapping the eastern seats Burwood (held by Labor), Ferntree Gully (Liberal), Forest Hill (Liberal) and Mount Waverley (Labor).

Analysts say the new seat is nominally held by Labor on a margin of 2.1 per cent. Burwood was held by Labor on 3.3 per cent.

The Liberal Party, which replaced Michael OBrien with former leader Matthew Guy in a September coup, must win back lost eastern suburbs seats, such as Ringwood, to have a chance of winning the state election in November. The Coalition has 28 fewer seats than Labor, and is behind in the polls.

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The Victorian branch has been mired in factional infighting for years. The controversial preselected candidate for Ringwood, Cynthia Watson, was overwhelmingly formally endorsed by the administration committee last week.

Moderate faction members had wanted to dump the former mayor of Boroondara, a Mormon, because of her conservative and religious views.

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Liberals in a lather over preselection irregularities for newly minted seat - The Sydney Morning Herald

President Joe Biden came into office promising to reverse President Donald Trump's restrictive immigration policies but failed to deliver in his first year, disappointing liberals and overseeing a major border crisis that hurt his popularity.

Biden struggled to follow through on vows to rescind Trump's "Remain in Mexico" program for asylum-seekers, to end the practice of using pandemic public health authority to automatically expel illegal immigrants, and to resolve problems in Central America that prompt many to flee to the United States.

The public has turned on him. Biden's approval ratings on his handling of immigration plummeted through his first year, dropping from upwards of 55% approval to 35% this month, according to RealClearPolitics averages.

In his first year, the president took swift action to halt some of the most harmful and legally indefensible policies of his predecessor, Gregory Chen, the senior director of government relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, wrote in an email. But with each step forward, the president also took major steps backwards.

Conservatives, meanwhile, fault Biden for the policies he has been able to enact.

We said this would be the most radical policy changes in immigration before he even took office. And they were very effective, very quickly, said Lora Ries, the senior research fellow for homeland security at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. I would say it's worse than even we anticipated.

47,705 MIGRANTS RELEASED WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO REPORT TO ICE HAVE GONE MISSING UNDER BIDEN

The new administration moved in last January, quickly rescinding a slew of former President Donald Trumps border policies and plans, including stopping billions of dollars worth of previously funded border wall construction, ordering a 100-day halt on deportations, and promising to debut an improved asylum system.

But before he got too far easing border restrictions, the administration was met by an enormous increase in illegal immigration. The full extent of illegal immigration at the southern border is unknown, but the number of migrants who are caught or surrender to Border Patrol is tracked. Over the past decade, before Biden took office, the number of apprehensions ranged between 30,000 and 50,000 noncitizens encountered in a single month. Last March, 170,000 noncitizens were encountered at the southern border. Encounters have remained between 160,000 and 210,000 every month since March 2021.

As border numbers rose, the public began to sour on Biden's management, forcing the White House to spend its first few months focused on the border instead of steering sweeping immigration reforms through Congress. In response to the surge at the border, the Biden administration was forced to choose between maintaining the Trump administration enforcement measures it had vowed to rescind (and disappointing liberal immigration activists) or seeing a rise in illegal immigration of the kind the GOP has predicted. It chose a little bit of both, and that is what has infuriated both Democrats and Republicans.

One such border initiative created by the Trump administration was the Migrant Protection Protocols, which required migrants who sought asylum at the southern border to remain in Mexico for months until their day in court. Biden ended it in June and was sued by Texas and Missouri. The Supreme Court ordered MPP to be restarted.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a restrictionist group in Washington, viewed the initial conclusion of MPP as Bidens most noteworthy promise kept. Liberal groups, though, are furious because Biden restarted the program and expanded it so that more migrants had the potential to be turned back than when the program was operating under Trump.

Biden was pushed early on in his first year by the same left-leaning immigration groups to stop using the pandemic public health measure, Title 42, which mandated that Border Patrol agents turn all illegal immigrants back to Mexico or to their home country. All illegal crossers, not just those seeking asylum, would be turned away.

Biden planned to end Title 42 as soon as the coronavirus was no longer a serious threat, but the spikes in cases, including the delta and omicron variants this past year, prevented him from doing so. Of the nearly 1.7 million encounters made by the Border Patrol in fiscal year 2021, more than 1 million people were turned away under Title 42, according to federal data.

It is absolutely indefensible that the president has stood behind a CDC ban on asylum-seekers put in place by his predecessor using falsely justified and now widely discredited public health statements, Chen wrote.

Chen said Biden promised to reduce the use of immigration detention, as well as eliminate the use of facilities operated by companies that are for-profit as opposed to nonprofit.

Instead, his agencies expanded detention and signed more contracts with private prisons reneging on those commitments, said Chen. During COVID, the administration continued to detain people unnecessarily in facilities that became Petri dishes for widespread infection, and it failed to provide vaccines and adequate protection for people detained in facilities.

More than 32,000 cases of the coronavirus have been detected among people jailed at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities nationwide since the start of the pandemic, according to federal data. However, the Biden administration did stop using ICE family residential centers to hold migrants before release. Instead, it relied on hotels and also released people onto the street, but rather than using ankle monitors to track adults, it gave some migrants cellphones to track them in a less invasive way.

However, noncitizens released into the U.S. to await future court dates must wait several years due to massive backlogs for the fewer than 500 immigration judges nationwide. It's a problem that the Biden administration needs to do more to address, Chen said.

The president needs to take far more aggressive action to eliminate the 1.5 million case backlog that is keeping people waiting years for decisions, said Chen.

Within the interior of the country, Krikorian said, Biden has all but ended interior immigration enforcement deportations. His order to halt deportations for 100 days was blocked in court. But, Ries said, he was very effective at reforming ICE by significantly limiting the categories of migrants subject to arrest, making many with criminal records ineligible.

The Biden administration did follow through on a promise to roll back a Trump rule that deemed immigrants who were poor a public charge because they did not make enough money and therefore would not be given green cards. Rosanna Berardi, managing partner of Berardi Immigration Law, which has offices across the U.S. and England, praised Biden for taking down that restriction. Naturalizations, the ceremonies by which legal permanent residents become citizens, drastically increased last year, which she applauded.

But when it comes to overhauling the immigration system through Congress, Biden has not gotten far. The White House-backed Democratic bill, the U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021, includes anearned roadmap to citizenship for11 million non-U.S. citizens illegally residing in the country and would drastically boost security at land, air, and seaports of entry on the border. Four billion dollars would be available over four years to address underlying reasons that people flee Central America for the U.S. southern border. The bill states that it will improve the immigration courts and expand family case management programs and reduce immigration court backlogs, which top 1.5 million. It has not made it through the House or Senate.

This is my 25th year of being an immigration lawyer. Ive lived through lots of administrations. They all promised the same thing. They promised comprehensive immigration reform, said Berardi. They promised ways of making illegals lawful and no administration, including the Biden administration, has delivered on that promise.

Even foreigners seeking to immigrate to the U.S. legally are having trouble doing so under the Biden White House. U.S. consulates and embassies overseas that are responsible for part of the visa screening processes have remained closed, understaffed, or have simply not prioritized immigration matters, preventing immigrants and tourists seeking admission to the U.S. from being able to reunite with family or take a job here, Chen said.

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Biden raised the number of refugees admitted to 125,000 but fell short this past year. Krikorian said the Trump administration shrank the U.S. government's capacity for reviewing refugee applications and that that has continued to affect the number of refugees able to be screened under Biden.

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Biden immigration promises after one year: Border chaos and frustrated liberals - Washington Examiner