Im cool with that too, where should we start ?
Here is an alphabetical list of links to current Government of Canada Departments, Agencies, Crown Corporations, Special Operating Agencies and other related organizations.
www.canada.ca
Increase taxes eh...
Cutting expenses does nothing in dealing with rising food costs due to higher fuel/fertilizer/input costs.
Cutting HST/GST does virtually nothing either.
There is really nothing that can be effectively done. We are not the only country in the world facing this issue - virtually ever single free market country is in the same boat.
Not even sure if this would be effective - but creating a national strategy, as they did in both WW1 and WW2, to reduce food imports might move the needle in terms of vegetables/fruits imports over the summer/fall months. Provide tax deductions or tax credits for the costs of growing your own veggies and such. Open up more municipal lands for allotments and using brown fields/lands that are awaiting development to be used to grow more veggies and such. If people can start to grow more of what they eat, it will make them healthier by being outside more, growing veggies chemically free, getting to know more of their neighbours and reducing their food bills for a 4-5 months of the year. Give them tax incentives or tax credits in the materials they need, the costs they incur and maybe a tax donation credit if they are able to donate some of the food they grow or give to elderly neighbours who can't grow their own.
When I lived in the Czech Republic in mid 90's, I lived in a suburb of Prague where the majority of the people lived in low rise apartments. Pretty much all of those folks had their own 'allotments' or 'zahradni domek', which basically was a very small 'bunkie' and some land that they used pretty much every single inch of for growing their own veggies and such. It was and still is, very very common in most of central/eastern Europe and in a number of western European countries. I wanted to have my own 'piece of land' when I lived there because it was something that I had always did when I was a kid growing up, helping out with the family garden, and, I was drinking and chasing girls way to much and I was looking for something to distract me. I went to the local Catholic Church with one of my co-workers who help interpret for me and I was allowed to use a small piece of land that had been unused for years. My Dad mailed over my seeds in the winter and by late March I had started to turn over the soil and plant. I grow alot of things that the Czechs didn't or varieties they had never seen (only 4yrs after Communism). It got me outside, meeting more of the locals and developing relationships with them, reduced my drinking and womanizing and provided me with alot more veggies options than what I had in the local grocery store.
Examples:
Allotment gardening in the Czech Republic plays a significant role in food self-provisioning, with roughly 38% of the population growing their own fruits or vegetables. While the majority of this food is grown in gardens attached to residential houses, allotments (or "garden colonies") are a crucial component of urban agriculture, particularly in large cities like Ostrava and Brno
Allotment gardens in Poland—known as
rodzinne ogrody działkowe (ROD)—are a significant source of locally grown food, with over
900,000 plots covering approximately
40,000 hectares. While traditionally used for self-sufficiency, modern plots often serve a hybrid function, balancing food production with recreation
Dacha gardens (allotments) in Russia play a massive role in the country’s food supply, with recent studies and historical data showing that these small, mostly household-operated plots produce roughly
40% to over 50% of Russia's total agricultural output by value. Despite using only about 3% to 6% of the country's total agricultural land, these plots are responsible for a majority of key food items produced in Russia
There is ALOT of unused or underused land across Canada that could be used for this purpose. Here is my city of Burlington its in place on a very very small scale and the waiting time of a piece of land is long.
Growing an edible garden is a fun way to get active outdoors and enjoy fresh and nutritious fruits, veggies and herbs. Our community garden program lets you rent a garden plot for a season to grow your garden.
www.burlington.ca
- Due to high demand, garden plot permits are for one season. All plots must be entirely cleared at the end of the season.
- All applicants will have to submit their lottery registration every year. There will be no wait-list or carry over to the next year.
- The garden season begins May 1 and ends October 31.
nationalpost.com
