Manitoba is the second province to sign a deal with the federal Liberals to expand school food programs across the province.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced the agreement during a press conference at a kindergarten-to-Grade 8 school in Winnipeg on Friday.
The province is to receive about $17.2 million over the next three years under the National School Food Program.
Kinew called the program one of the “most consequential public policy interventions” seen in recent Canadian history.
“We know that when kids show up to school hungry it’s a barrier to learning,” Kinew told reporters.
“If we do this investment together and we can say at the end of the school year we fed some hungry kids, we feel pretty good about that.”
The Liberal government set aside $1 billion over five years in the last budget to expand access to such programs across the country after pressure from federal New Democrats.
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Freeland said the program will save families with two children up to $800 a year.
The agreement builds on the province’s nutrition program that was expanded last month, she added.
Manitoba’s NDP government earmarked $30 million in this year’s budget to provide public schools across the province and schools in communities with high socio-economic needs with funds to provide meal or snack options.
Funds from the province and Ottawa are expected to provide meals or snacks to more than 19,000 students beginning this school year, said Freeland.
“It’s really meaningful for every single parent who has a kid and knows their kid’s going to get a snack, for every single kid who’s not going to be hungry.”
Newfoundland and Labrador was the first province to sign onto the deal last month.
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