The Alberta Government is spending $10 million to expand a school nutrition program province-wide in the next school year.
It comes after a successful pilot project — in which both the public and catholic boards in Calgary took part.
Premier Rachel Notley says while some may argue there is a better way to spend the money, now is not the time to cut programs like this.
“There is no question that even in a place as rich as Alberta, kids come to school hungry quite regularly. And it is also no question that’s it’s a pretty easy problem to fix, and it makes profound changes to the success of those kids.”
The 14 school boards involved in the pilot will receive $250,000 for the 2017/2018 year.
The NDP also brought in Eunique, a Grade 5 student, to talk about her experience with the pilot project.
“Everybody gets the same amount of food, and that stops us from comparing our lunches. It helps us make lunch more relaxing. Every single day we get healthy and different food, I especially love the beef tacos, they are so good.”
The other 46 boards will each be given a $141,000 grant.
