FOOD INSECURITY DOESN’T ADD UP
A recent appalling statistic is that 41 per cent of the children on P.E.I. are “food insecure.” Something here is not adding up! What criteria have been used to determine this statistic? How is “food insecurity” defined?
P.E.I. schools have both breakfast and lunch programs with menus listing what are considered to be balanced and healthy meals available to all students, whether they can pay or not. Who subsidises these programs? Does anyone check that they deliver what they claim?
Take a walk down University Avenue or walk from the corner of Riverside Drive across the bridge and up to the end of Kinlock Road in Stratford and count the number of drive-thru places, fast-food establishments, take-out places and restaurants — the number of such places is staggering. Who supports these establishments? They are not cheap. The demand is so great that another huge drive-thru has just been built in Stratford. The lineups to these places are horrendous — big cars spewing out their greenhouse gases as people wait to place their order!
As I come home between 8 and 9 a.m. on a weekday morning, I see a double lane of cars lined up almost bumper to bumper. Most of these cars have only one person in them, suggesting perhaps a two-car family?
These facts being considered, it’s little wonder that people question the fact that 41 per cent of P.E.I.’S school children are “food insecure.” The sad thing is that, unless the reasons for this are determined and addressed, the situation will be selfperpetuating.
Perhaps people are putting their wants instead of their needs and the needs of their families first? Perhaps it's simply that people no longer know how to budget and manage their finances? Whatever the reason, the government throwing more money into the pot will not solve the 41 per cent “food insecurity” problem (the proliferation of fastfood establishments is proof of that!). The root cause of the problem has first to be determined and addressed. The facts, the statistics, and then the solutions have all to add up!
J.C. Gomersall, Stratford, P.E.I.