Minister MacAulay wraps up A Food Policy for Canada regional sessions in Winnipeg, Manitoba

Press Release

September 29, 2017 – Winnipeg, Manitoba – Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

A Food Policy for Canada will set a long-term vision for the country’s health, environment, social, and economic goals related to food; while also identifying actions that can be taken in the short-term to improve Canada’s food system.

Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay, along with Manitoba’s Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler, and Member of Parliament for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley Doug Eyolfson, participated in the final regional engagement session today in Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the public consultations for the development of A Food Policy for Canada come to a close.

Stakeholders, Indigenous representatives, experts, and key policy makers were invited to join the session, the last in a series held across the country. The sessions began in August in Charlottetown and Saint-Hyacinthe, and continued into September in Vancouver, Yellowknife, and Guelph.

Public consultations on A Food Policy for Canada were launched on May 29, 2017, with an online survey that asked Canadians for their input on food issues related to:

• increasing access to affordable food;
• improving health and food safety;
• conserving our soil, water, and air; and
• growing more high-quality food.

Response to the survey from across the country was strong, with more than 40,000 responses received before it closed on August 31, 2017.

With broader consultations now coming to a close, the Government of Canada will work to synthesize the information received from across the country as it works to develop A Food Policy for Canada, to be released in 2018.

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