The United Nations Rapporteur on the Right to Food says Canada is “self-righteous” and says that it is “appalling” that we ignore pronouncements from the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council. Olivier de Schutter darkly warned today that Canada’s failure to heed the council – whose current members include Russia, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and the Congo — will do Canada no good!
Meanwhile, as Canadians knew all along, there are too many kids going to school hungry and too many of our relatives, friends, and neighbours who live on Canada’s First Nations can’t get good food cheap.
Well, we’ve had one federal election and seven provincial elections in the last year in Canada. The incumbent government — be it Conservative, Liberal or NDP — won every single one. Given all the opportunities electors had to “throw the bums out” on hunger and poverty issues, Canadians either blew it or they disagree with de Schutter’s diagnosis.
Now, if “eradicating hunger” was a central part of any provincial campaign, I’m counting on you, dear reader, to let me know. You can count on me, in return, to help you keep abreast of federal politics. So let’s look back, just over a year ago, to what the three leading parties were saying in their election platforms about food. Read more…
