Put Food in the Budget

For ten years, public health units across Ontario have been collecting annual data on the cost of nutritious food in their local areas. Because of deep cuts to social assistance rates in Ontario, these reports continually show that healthy food is out of reach for thousands of low-income people in this province, putting them at continued risk of chronic illness, heart disease, diabetes, depression and high blood pressure.

That's why The Stop is leading a campaign with the Association of Local Public Health Agencies and the 25 in 5 Network for Poverty Reduction to ask the Ontario government to "put food in the budget" and introduce a $100 Healthy Food Supplement for adults on social assistance. The campaign was kicked off with a press conference at The Stop with Dr. David McKeown, the Medical Officer of Health for Toronto on February 19, 2009.

For more information on the Put Food in the Budget Campaign, please go to http://povertywatchontario.ca/put-food-in-the-budget/

On March 18, 2009, a busload of people from our community attended "Set the Table at Queen's Park," a rally in support of a Healthy Food Supplement. A Davenport community member, Cheryl Smith, spoke to a crowd of more than 200 people about her struggles to stay healthy while fighting cancer and living on a low income.