Covid Journal, April 13, 2020

I’m going to talk about food again.

We are spending billions in Canada and trillions across the globe to bail out companies that, quite frankly, don’t deserve a penny of public money. Many of them have been at the trough for so long, it’s surprising they needf a bailout, but as I’ve said before, capitalists make great socialists when the time comes.

The good news is that we’re also about to start spending billions on wage subsidies, mortgage protections and other mechanisms designed to keep people afloat financially.

Canadian governments are also investing in new ways to secure our food future, including an announcement last week from the Prime Minister’s office.

The bad news is that we’re hearing repeated stories about how our food chain is collapsing or massive amounts of food products (milk, protein, vegetables) are being destroyed rather than be brought to the market at a discount.

The only to avoid this kind of waste is to shorten the chain. We need individuals to start thinking about some of their basic daily food needs (not wants) and how they can supply themselves with the right tools to keep their bellies full.

Our various levels of governments have a number of tools available to encourage different actions on the part of individuals. Here are just a few ideas concerning how we can improve our food independence when Covid blows over (if not before)

• Tax rebates or exemptions for purchase of materials related to gardening. Elimination of the HST and other surtaxes that might be applied to things like seeds, soil, qualifying garden supplies, tools.
• Deductions from income (assuming people have income) from said investments as tax credits when they file their returns.
• Allowance for RRSP withdrawals that would be penalty-free and would not affect contribution levels for investments made in qualifying ‘small’ gardens or local Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) or co-ops.
• Education campaigns to inform people about the value and importance of shortening the food chain.
• Requirements to have nation-wide changes to rules and regulations concerning front and back yard gardens, basic livestock (ie. chickens), greenhouses and other changes to landscaping to accommodate “Victory Gardens”
• Tax relief in the form of charitable receipts for any food or food-related activities (including volunteer hours) for food banks and other programs that help support those who need support.
• Sustantial new support for CSA and food coop formats, including tax incentives for SMALL farmers, elimination of incentives for GIANT farmers and tax deductions that favour local production and distribution as opposed to international importing.
• Support for online ordering, delivery and pickup solutions for small farmers, CSAs and coops.
• Rethinking how we operate farmer’s markets. ‘Social distancing’ may be a thing, but there’s no reason why farmer’s markets should be shut down while people fail to social distance while browsing around Costco or Loblaws.
• Elimination of ‘free’ parking at larger big box locations that are effectively competing with ‘grow your own’ programs.
• And … a repeat of my favourite: a $1 per 250mL bottle surtax payable by the company on any water that’s removed from Canadian soil (above or below).

As many of us ‘wrap up’ Easter weekend, let’s be thoughtful about where our food is coming from and explore new ways to keep our food production, distribution and – most importantly – income closer to home.