Unlearn16: Class is in Session - The One Where EVERY Student Gets Breakfast AND Lunch

00:00:00.000 class is in session all right everybody welcome to unlearn 16 class is in session guys ding ding

00:00:10.800 ding ding today i have a pretty incredible guest all right i have a liberal cabinet minister

00:00:18.920 and i'm going to try to get this right and i practice like seven times so when i don't get

00:00:22.660 this right. I'll correct you. Okay. Minister of Children, Family, Social Development, Genocides.

00:00:33.960 Brilliant. Thank you. Can you explain that? That's a long title. It is a long title. Really, my name's Jenna. 0.98

00:00:40.720 Please call me Jenna. Not Genocides? Or Genocides, sure, either or. The title, I mean, really, it's just about an

00:00:48.060 amazing opportunity that I have to serve our country and to ensure that the best interests

00:00:56.120 of families and children are at the forefront in all the decisions we make as a government

00:01:01.720 did they write that in the handbook no I just made that up throw it all away what does it mean

00:01:08.440 give me one give me one thing okay one thing that you have done or that you have been a part of not

00:01:14.080 thing we're going to talk about because okay sure one thing that you have done and you've been a

00:01:18.320 part of where you said that's made canada better that's made this province this whatever give me

00:01:24.800 one thing i love that question and i won't talk about the thing we're about to talk about uh the

00:01:30.720 other one thing that i'm incredibly proud of yes that's still underway to be fair is rolling out

00:01:37.120 our national early learning and child care system so ten dollar a day daycare okay well across this

00:01:42.560 country okay that's kind of rolled out already is it no work in progress okay so so it's not is it

00:01:48.560 it's not full-fledged in ontario or it's in different spots in different provinces it's

00:01:52.480 in different spots in different provinces so in ontario we have an agreement with the province

00:01:57.840 they're going to create 86 000 new child care spots over five years so far they're at about

00:02:04.800 maybe 25 000 in ontario in ontario and they need to get to ten dollars a day by march 2026

00:02:13.840 as of july or excuse me june oh my gosh january 1st they'll be at 22 a day and as of

00:02:23.280 i think the average person sitting at home going okay how do you how do you get something to ten

00:02:27.120 dollars a day when we need to pay child care workers we need to pay for the facilities their

00:02:31.920 food whatever else goes on yeah all the runny noses i don't know yeah diapers um how did how

00:02:38.080 does that happen sure so it's just through subsidization it's so federal government yes

00:02:43.280 uh transfers money to each and every province and territory under certain terms and conditions

00:02:49.920 and then the provinces then administer it so the funding goes from federal well really from the

00:02:55.280 taxpayers okay let's be honest right so from the tax base uh from the federal government right then

00:03:02.880 to the provincial government and then the provincial government will then send it on to

00:03:08.080 child care operators across the country excluding ontario because ontario is always special

00:03:14.800 and ontario sends it to alberta dial it down ontario sends it to the municipalities okay

00:03:22.480 municipalities send it to the child care operators interesting yeah there's an extra layer there i

00:03:27.600 think ford's just trying to pass the buck but anyways um well okay so that's the way it works

00:03:32.080 and just to give a tiny little civics lesson because i'm a teacher yeah um a lot of people

00:03:36.080 at home don't get what a subsidy is don't get what a transfer payment is and then we can roll into

00:03:40.640 what you're doing now because a transfer of payment would look like you have a tax base coming from

00:03:46.800 each province so everybody pays income tax it all goes to the federal government the federal

00:03:51.520 government then takes a large body of that money and tries to equalize it or or equitably distribute

00:03:58.380 it amongst the country because certain provinces do better than others to make sure that everybody's

00:04:03.980 basic needs at the very least are being met absolutely did i do a good job you get an a

00:04:08.280 fantastic i do like a strong atta girl okay so taking that in mind how much and then we're going

00:04:16.100 roll into what we want to talk about today but how much pushback do you get when you say we're

00:04:23.220 doing $10 a day day care it's coming out of tax dollars we're going to make sure everybody has

00:04:28.480 access to it and the taxpayer puts up their hand and says I am tired of playing high income tax

00:04:34.100 sure it happens absolutely and I feel like that's all anyone's saying right now it's fair but at the

00:04:40.680 same time and i mean i'm kind of in a fortunate position because i get to speak to a lot of the

00:04:46.820 parents who are using the child care system and who are benefiting from these reduced fees right

00:04:52.740 and i have to tell you like even here in ontario we're only at a 50 reduction in fees

00:04:57.800 it's like transformational yeah for parents like it's about eight thousand almost nine thousand

00:05:05.560 dollars a year per child that they're saving right so so you're not pretty instrumental yeah so

00:05:12.440 that's a really interesting number so let's say now i'm going to put the people who don't have

00:05:17.000 kids over here for a second they're going to complain separately um but but for families

00:05:22.180 though yeah because we we see a lot of people saying oh i'm going to give you back a tax benefit

00:05:26.780 i'm going to give you a hundred dollars two hundred dollars a month right so i'm just give

00:05:31.920 the 200 check and hope you elect them not going to talk about that on this not us not us um but

00:05:37.940 because of that right so you're you're they're giving you these tiny little subsidies but really

00:05:43.660 when you look at eight thousand dollars yeah it's significant and what it allows yeah for the most

00:05:50.120 part people to stay in the workforce yes predominantly women career predominantly women

00:05:55.260 people to stay in their careers build their careers yeah so they don't have to take a huge

00:05:59.740 chunk of time off yeah then try to reinsert themselves into an economy that let's be honest

00:06:05.360 is well ridiculous because they don't want them um mothers i would i would hire a multitasking 1.00

00:06:11.440 mother to do anything at any time any day of the week twice on sundays um but but it that that's 1.00

00:06:17.600 very much the case right now there are some stay-at-home moms that stay at home and do an

00:06:21.980 amazing job or stay-at-home dad amazing but this is that this is an enabler absolutely it gives

00:06:28.480 parents more choice they can choose to stay home they can choose to go back to work not everyone

00:06:33.440 had that choice before affordable child care was a thing listen my mom got six weeks with me that's

00:06:38.400 it back to work but what it also does and i think it's not pushed for and we don't talk about very

00:06:43.920 often is it helps create a stable economy that isn't having that push and pull yeah that can

00:06:52.000 grow at a consistent rate absolutely rather than being you know thrown into turmoil

00:06:57.600 yeah you're very right on that um again another strong out of girl i appreciate that out of girl

00:07:02.320 my eye is twitching why is that you guys see that on camera no listen running a school is a lot

00:07:09.120 i believe it i believe it you think running a country's hard

00:07:13.680 i'm not dealing with you just have to talk to pierre every five seconds he eats an apple and

00:07:18.720 annoys everybody have you ever tried to control a 15 year old okay so now there's this amazing

00:07:25.360 program which is why we're having this conversation today that i think is is quite incredible because

00:07:31.040 i i've i've been working in education long enough to see it come and go now okay

00:07:37.360 most kids and the the system itself has been gutted in a lot of ways the education system in

00:07:44.000 in this province and it's i have seen a slow erosion since mike harris probably so when i

00:07:50.800 graduated high school 1994 it was you saw it it happened then that big teacher strike happened

00:07:56.720 yes yeah um but you started to see things that were being taken away from the system and then

00:08:02.080 i went off and over the years and through sorry to bear the brunt of this uh conservative and

00:08:08.800 liberal governments alike you saw this system being hollowed out right you had a huge strike

00:08:16.240 under kathleen wynn and they're forced back to work and then the constitution was brought into

00:08:20.640 it they for you know challenging that's a lot that's a lot i'll give you that absolutely what

00:08:26.400 is your program and how does it tie to education sure um so the amazing work that i'm getting to

00:08:33.120 do right now is to roll out a school food program across the country right so we as your liberal

00:08:43.360 federal government made the decision that we were going to prioritize children and we've made a one

00:08:49.860 billion dollar commitment to ensure that kids at school have food now that sounds lovely and I

00:08:57.360 think most people can get behind that concept I will tell you Pierre Polyev has labeled it

00:09:02.940 more bureaucracy however I'm sure you'd say it was communist that sounds communist how dare you feed

00:09:11.800 children it's it's unbelievable to be honest with you but in all fairness have you ever watched

00:09:16.680 princess bride of course he keeps on using that word i do not think it means what he thinks it

00:09:20.540 means yeah it's just like constantly coming out okay so it's a national program one billion

00:09:25.360 dollars to feed kids across the board in every province correct so here's the tricky part oh i

00:09:30.780 think there's a few there's a few tricky parts absolutely so we announced this in our budget

00:09:35.220 back in the spring. So since that time, I have been working across the country with all provinces

00:09:43.100 and territories to negotiate funding agreements with each province and territory. I can already

00:09:48.760 tell the tricky part, Jenna. It is tricky, yes. We've got a framework. Obviously, we have a policy

00:09:55.160 with kind of our key principles, ensuring it's universally accessible, it's sustainable,

00:10:01.200 it adheres to nutrition guides it looks to local food sources all of these really great

00:10:08.320 guiding principles but having said that we need each province and territory to

00:10:16.120 not only agree to those principles but to share their plan right right so tell me how over this

00:10:24.140 school year this first year of funding how you are going to best use these dollars to ensure

00:10:29.540 kids have access to food so so far we've announced newfoundland labrador first day of school in

00:10:35.540 september they do have a puffin so amazing they're nice people they are nice people uh so that was a

00:10:41.500 great start to the school year um last month we were able to announce manitoba fantastic board

00:10:49.680 and manitoba has had a version like has made some investments on their own over the last few years

00:10:55.700 And so this is enabling them to do even more.

00:11:00.440 And now we are announcing Ontario, which is remarkable.

00:11:05.580 Nobody can be surprised about that as much as I am right now.

00:11:09.260 But I know, look, I can see, yeah, it is remarkable.

00:11:13.020 I'll let you go ahead and say remarkable for a second.

00:11:15.980 You can have it for a minute.

00:11:17.700 Sure.

00:11:18.240 Remarkable.

00:11:19.060 Yeah.

00:11:19.220 um my my question is who said is are you allowed to say who said a strong no

00:11:25.820 get out of my i don't have any no's yet i have some ideas i don't have any no's i can't can you

00:11:33.220 give me one legitimate reason without obviously naming names i'll name them later in my own

00:11:38.620 podcast who i think is being problematic and why but who would say or or why would they say no what

00:11:44.980 could be okay forget the illegitimate reasons because they don't want the

00:11:49.580 Liberal government to look good to hell without an election's coming up I want

00:11:52.480 to make sure that my party looks better which could be a play is there a

00:11:57.580 legitimate reason that a province would be hesitant to want to implement a

00:12:01.600 program like this the way that you guys have structured it can you think of any

00:12:05.380 legitimate reason no no no we're talking about food for kids right now to be

00:12:12.340 fair um obviously you know ontario is a big step um i feel confident we'll have another province

00:12:20.820 soon we have had um i guess four provinces that have been in election mode too right including bc

00:12:29.860 so now obviously they're transitioning yeah they'll be good so you know it it had while they

00:12:35.700 were in election mode obviously we're not negotiating a funding agreement yeah um but

00:12:40.260 all that to say that's starting to clear up only nova scotia is currently uh in election mode so

00:12:46.500 we will begin to be able to engage further with those provinces as well i have a question so if

00:12:51.940 you uh which is great because it's my one um if you're going to try let's just take school a

00:12:59.300 okay and let's assume there's a lot of kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds within that

00:13:04.100 public school yes you are going to provide food at that school i'm assuming you aren't going to

00:13:10.980 differentiate from the kid who desperately needs it the kid that kind of needs it and the kid that

00:13:16.320 doesn't need it at all no there's universal access is one of our key principles absolutely

00:13:22.560 it needs to be in that obviously there can be no stigma towards going to the breakfast room or

00:13:31.380 going to wherever lunch is served or the snack there can be no stigma attached to that you know

00:13:36.820 food is should be offered on a level playing field and all children should be able to enjoy it enjoy

00:13:45.460 it together learn together and benefit from the program it's going to take time to get there to

00:13:50.340 be completely fair it's going to take time as this is being rolled out there's obviously hurdles with

00:13:57.460 respect to schools capacity having the equipment having the staff all of those

00:14:02.680 things are going to take a bit of time however yeah so would it be like you'd

00:14:06.820 have to make the food in your own cafeteria not necessarily so those it

00:14:10.960 will it'll look different frankly everywhere right because there's unique

00:14:16.420 circumstances here in Ontario so Ontario already has a student nutrition program

00:14:23.220 that nutrition program is run by 13 different community organizations okay

00:14:30.980 nutrition program organizations uh here so it's kind of already set up to this funding is just

00:14:39.020 gonna it's like a booster right right boost it all up right now again just a little bit of a

00:14:46.240 civics lesson just so everybody understands education is a provincial jurisdiction yes

00:14:53.280 So constitutionally, it is their job to handle education, fund education, and create curriculum

00:15:03.220 and all of those things.

00:15:04.660 And we can talk about my desire to nationalize education later.

00:15:07.880 I think we should change our constitution.

00:15:09.500 But how does this butt up against that?

00:15:14.240 Does it?

00:15:14.840 Yeah, no, it's a really good point.

00:15:17.320 And that is exactly why we have approached it as we have and that we set forward this overarching policy.

00:15:25.040 These are the principles we need to see.

00:15:27.080 We will fund the provinces that signed on, ensuring that they adhere to that policy.

00:15:33.940 But undoubtedly, it will look different in different parts of the country.

00:15:39.020 And that is, as you've rightly said, education is provincial jurisdiction.

00:15:43.800 and so who are we to dictate what that looks like so it will look different all that to say

00:15:51.740 again I would like to think that feeding kids at school is not political it is not something that

00:15:58.840 we should be opposing or arguing about and frankly I would say although it's taking a bit of time to

00:16:06.500 get everyone signed on we are having productive discussions I think also though I mean

00:16:12.580 the the it's happening within schools but to me this could be more of a human basic rights

00:16:22.260 and basic needs being met so if people are going to speak about on a constitutional term

00:16:28.280 let's say sure we're not really talking about influencing and controlling education per se

00:16:35.060 we're not talking about facilities we're not talking about curriculum sure although we should

00:16:38.900 not this podcast um we're not talking about that we're talking it's just the location at which

00:16:47.420 yes your government is trying to ensure that kids especially kids below the poverty line or at the

00:16:54.000 poverty line who are struggling to actually eat yeah can have basic needs met yeah right absolutely

00:17:01.380 you're very right so i don't think it necessarily falls i mean it does because it's in schools but

00:17:07.060 But it doesn't necessarily fall in that.

00:17:09.500 Yep, you're right.

00:17:10.480 So when you're going to have people arguing against it,

00:17:12.680 I mean, I think there are some provinces that really sort of try to puff up their chests

00:17:18.280 and be a little bit more of a, I don't want to say separatist.

00:17:22.080 Did I say that word?

00:17:22.780 I didn't mean that word.

00:17:24.020 No.

00:17:24.700 Independent thinkers.

00:17:27.580 But they don't like a sort of a heavy hand, federalist kind of leaning.

00:17:33.600 but i i really can't see their argument around this when in actuality the only rules you've

00:17:40.620 made it needs to be healthy yeah who's arguing against that yeah i mean i do like a twinkie

00:17:46.580 so i don't maybe every once in a while

00:17:48.640 everybody who's listening to me is like joanna would just go to mcdonald's all the time

00:17:55.240 um so that it has to be healthy i love the idea that needs to be locally sourced

00:18:03.200 does it make it more expensive good question that i mean that's a it will vary right like that's a

00:18:10.160 variable that i think everywhere you are will vary but also i mean when it's local there's less

00:18:16.420 transportation costs we know that nutrients are lost through transportation so you get something

00:18:22.040 fresh and it will change and it supports that local economy right right now how many kids are

00:18:28.960 we talking about there there are i just did it i just did a tick talk about this not to bring up

00:18:34.320 that um but uh 900 schools public schools in ontario that was my that was my number i hope

00:18:43.380 that's like 940 maybe i want to say 450 no all public like elementary and high school oh interesting

00:18:51.880 i don't know that number so is this just an elementary school it again it depends on the

00:18:58.180 province so the province will set those parameters and it will be through the current partnerships

00:19:04.260 through those 13 school food partners right right right right so currently those partners are have

00:19:12.600 a number of programs across the province right um i should look to find out the breakdown of where

00:19:19.180 those are as far as elementary versus secondary i don't know that off the top of my head um but

00:19:26.600 having said that our investment uh that we're making that we've just announced with ontario

00:19:32.500 we'll see an additional 160 000 children okay and just over i think it's 9.6 million meals

00:19:42.600 this school year okay so substantial so how many so you're just doing you're doing black breakfast

00:19:49.740 than lunch whatever it is uh the choice yes yeah we're not dictating that do you think maybe that's

00:19:57.180 a lot of space giving the province a lot um i'm just wondering if doug ford just serves those egg

00:20:04.620 sandwiches every day from tim horns like i'm just and i'm obviously joking but like that would be

00:20:10.640 expensive um my question is like if there's not as much control over that sure are you worried

00:20:19.580 about the money not going where the money's supposed to go and I'm not and I'll tell you why

00:20:23.780 I'm not and those 13 Ontario school food organizations or partners have been doing

00:20:32.600 incredible work for a long time in Ontario here and and those like they do this work out of a

00:20:42.920 labor of love right right they really do and so I feel confident that this investment we've just

00:20:52.540 announced here in Ontario will enable them to just do more and that's what they really want

00:20:58.940 right and I will say as well our investment here in Ontario so the first year it's 18.5 million

00:21:04.680 dollars this this school year and that 80 of that needs to be strictly food okay so there are some

00:21:13.800 rules around how this money is spent what's the 20 like trans the other it can be transportation

00:21:18.840 it could be staffing it could be you know accommodations that need to be made it could

00:21:23.800 be fridges right whatever that looks like some schools obviously don't have the facilities

00:21:28.520 exactly sure so you know there's a strong mandate in there to ensure the

00:21:34.940 other piece as well which we haven't touched on is there is as part of in

00:21:40.820 Ontario are funding a commitment to ensure that the indigenous or First

00:21:47.360 Nations okay our First Nations it's a second part of it well it's like part of

00:21:56.540 this agreement with ontario yeah yeah to ensure so through this agreement we will see about 130

00:22:04.060 000 additional meals served through the first nations and other partnerships for indigenous

00:22:09.980 children and so you will partner again with that community correct with that organization right so

00:22:16.420 again it's a school food organization right specifically serving indigenous within that

00:22:21.020 community itself um any so these organizations they're all privately run are they non-profit

00:22:28.100 what are they so they're all non-profit so you're telling me that you're going to give the money to

00:22:34.460 an Ontario and Doug Ford is just going to hand it over in its entirety yeah so here in I'm trying

00:22:42.560 to think in Scarborough I mean I like the way that sounds yeah and here so it's the um Toronto

00:22:49.900 student success foundation that's the ministry you're talking about the no the organization

00:22:56.620 the school food oh okay okay yeah and they have different groups underneath them exactly that go

00:23:03.140 out and that actually do the work yeah yeah well that's i don't i can't see any downside the only

00:23:10.440 thing i guess i'm gonna ask sure because all of the numbers seem ridiculous you ever you ever

00:23:16.600 listen to anybody talk about i'm giving eight billion dollars to the and it doesn't the money

00:23:23.160 doesn't mean anything it doesn't mean anything and it seems as though like you know the federal

00:23:28.940 government's dealing in billions of dollars all over the place and for the average person

00:23:34.380 yeah it's like every time we turn around we listen to lots of different levels of government say

00:23:39.940 we're going to spend a hundred million here 32 million here is there a way and i'm really putting

00:23:46.380 on the spot right that's okay is there a way to boil it down so it makes a little bit more

00:23:52.160 logistical sense to say your x amount of kids are going to have this kind of food and i know

00:24:00.160 different provinces yeah whatever yeah but this is what it tangible tangibly means sure per kid

00:24:06.360 yeah in the school where they need access okay sure okay let's give it for the whole country

00:24:14.460 i'll get your calculator hold on no just just stay in ontario we stay in ontario okay again we talk

00:24:20.460 about the whole country and i think people get overwhelmed it's a lot there's all these incredible

00:24:24.860 ideas and they're shot at you and i and i think people kind of just turn them off yeah it's just

00:24:31.820 like sure they are sure they are but this is incredibly important to understand it and then

00:24:36.780 to actually see the rollout yeah I think matters so yeah okay so Ontario okay

00:24:44.580 year one yes we are sending them 18.5 million dollars yes what does that mean

00:24:51.000 yes that means a hundred and sixty thousand more children will have access

00:24:59.160 or excuse me will receive food at school okay that brings over all the total

00:25:05.940 number of children who have access to food at school this year would be 1 million 1 million

00:25:11.100 children in Ontario wow okay meals is with this additional investment this school year 9.7 more

00:25:23.040 meals served at school this school year how many that's tangible that's tangible how many kids

00:25:30.740 right now in Ontario would you say and I know I'm asking a lot of numbers here but yeah I

00:25:35.820 a lot of numbers how many kids i'm a big i'm a big one i should have brought a whiteboard

00:25:41.420 or a child um how many kids do you think are living

00:25:46.300 sort of at the poverty line or below at this very moment in ontario like i've heard stats over in

00:25:54.460 canada where you know we're over a million children living below the poverty line yeah

00:25:59.900 and they're not having basic and so when i say the poverty line i mean who's not having basic needs

00:26:05.020 met sure food clothing shelter right that's what we're talking about yeah that's a tough number

00:26:11.140 yeah to pin down to be fair and i would suggest like one kid is one too many right sure yeah yeah

00:26:19.980 like no let's be honest um you know we've you know you asked me earlier on about something i'm really

00:26:25.740 proud about well let me give you one more thing because it relates to this conversation and that's

00:26:29.960 Canada child benefit right so anyone who has kids under 18 in this country you

00:26:37.160 know if you talk to them most of them will be receiving or had received the

00:26:42.080 Canada child benefit it can be it's a sliding scale but it goes up to about

00:26:46.940 seventy six hundred dollars every year per child it arrives every month in

00:26:52.820 people's bank account this is like what the baby bonus used to be used to be

00:26:56.120 yes i remember it was so exciting when our mom opened that check and took it to the bank i

00:27:05.180 remember that okay well it's not 36 bucks anymore and it's a completely yeah completely

00:27:12.140 rethought process to ensure and so this is where i'm going back to your original point

00:27:17.820 it has helped us lift hundreds of thousands of kids out of poverty since we introduced this

00:27:23.360 this version this canada child benefit in 2016 and so that's going back to the you know one kid

00:27:29.520 is too many when i look at the work that we've done since our government came into power in 2015

00:27:35.600 whether it's the canada child benefit whether it's affordable child care whether it's now

00:27:41.960 moving forward with this national school food program whether it's our new dental benefit

00:27:48.020 moving forward with pharmacare like when you stack these programs on top of each other

00:27:53.560 it is it is really really impactful especially for those who are struggling you know I again

00:28:00.320 I have the benefit of getting to talk to moms and dads and kids everywhere in this country and I'll

00:28:05.460 tell you the stories are heartwarming like this is impactful work and you know are we done no

00:28:12.340 there's still more we need to do there's still a lot of work to be done but brick by brick I think

00:28:18.660 we're making a difference what do you say to the people that say no to the people that say

00:28:26.480 I know what I would say yeah and I would say it probably sarcastically but what would you say

00:28:32.640 to individuals who are constantly just talking about the reduction of income tax the reduction

00:28:39.720 of of taxes in general so that that's seventy six hundred dollars yeah why did we take it from them

00:28:46.840 in the first place why not just leave it in their pockets why not i'm going to sound like a parrot a

00:28:52.100 second why not let canadians decide how to use their why not that i mean i sure i again i have

00:28:58.480 a good reason but yeah i'd like to hear yours well i frankly well first of all i'm a mom as well

00:29:06.040 outside of this right and i think being a mom um raising three kids over the last 18 years

00:29:12.520 gives you perspective and you know this is canada did i possibly mess up the filming of this listen

00:29:22.920 i've told you about my eye twitch i pressed a button on something things stopped recording

00:29:30.120 you were right about to talk about canada and i pierre polly have you ah the nerve of you i'm

00:29:36.280 so sorry i'm gonna put this down and you're gonna tell me i am trying it is a wednesday

00:29:43.400 is it what is it the kind of country you want to live in is premised on what because this is

00:29:51.240 important a lot of my a lot of my kids will talk to me about like i'm not a big flag person i'm not

00:29:57.560 I used to like you.

00:29:58.760 I'm going to sell something offensive.

00:30:00.480 Wait, you're going to hate me even more right now.

00:30:02.920 I'm not even a big national anthem person.

00:30:05.580 Wait, wait.

00:30:07.840 What I am is I'm a big idea person and I am a community person.

00:30:13.700 So when people say, Joanna, do you love your country?

00:30:17.500 I say, I love the people that I'm surrounded by.

00:30:21.820 Land doesn't have meaning to me.

00:30:24.240 People do.

00:30:25.260 and the more we push off symbolism to land and to flags and to symbols I think that kind of

00:30:33.120 patriotism falls very shallow and doesn't have a lot of depth you know governments change it's not

00:30:40.480 to the government sure it's to an idea and so if I'm to ask you what's your idea of Canada

00:30:47.360 that you hold closely all of the things that we've talked about yeah what does that look like to you

00:30:54.360 Yeah. Well, I kind of love what you just said because to me, no, I love the flag and I love O Canada, but I also love the people that make Canada, right? Like that's what it's all about. It's about the people, the Canadians across this country who make it what it is, right?

00:31:14.360 and you know back to our earlier conversation you know i'm incredibly proud as a canadian that we

00:31:22.440 are a country that helps lift others up right that we have strong social programs to ensure

00:31:30.920 that people don't get left behind that those that are struggling have access to programs that help

00:31:37.100 to support them like as a mom i've got three teenagers and yeah mind blown i know teenagers

00:31:45.180 i think my eyes twitching for you thank you i need that she's right timid at three teenage girls

00:31:51.060 anyways all that to say like the country that i want to be raising them that i have raised them

00:32:00.880 is a country of compassion a country of people that care about their neighbors and are there for

00:32:09.240 them absolutely and with that we'll be able to roll right back into the other mistake that i made

00:32:15.980 let's do that and i'll pick up what i said right now you can't cut taxes and not cut spending right

00:32:24.320 they have to go in hand in hand so you know we have pure polyev i get to listen to him all the

00:32:31.180 time in the house of commons should i get you an apple i need an apple you're right where's the

00:32:35.040 apple can't talk about an apple somebody you know all he talks about is cuts cuts cuts there's an

00:32:42.160 apple good and you can't you can't you know maintain what we have as a country or accelerate

00:32:53.360 frankly some of the supports that are really necessary and things like a national school

00:32:57.780 food program without corresponding taxes that support these programs can i add something

00:33:03.960 absolutely my eyes still twitching oh boy what is wrong with me water um i like to frame it this

00:33:11.900 way because i know a lot of people talk about taxes we have whatever's going on south of the

00:33:16.140 border right now everybody's being run by a very strong fear of their economic safety and security

00:33:24.720 yeah and it's real there's no there's no conversation and it always is real and i think

00:33:31.900 in times of that economic insecurity it's very sort of you know thomas hogs where people are

00:33:37.800 willing to give up a hell of a lot of freedom and and a lot of their own sort of personal you know

00:33:46.760 civil rights in order to be ensured that everything is going to be perfect yeah uh first of all

00:33:53.820 nothing's ever going to be perfect that's ridiculous and if somebody's trying to sell

00:33:56.680 you a simplistic answer to a complex solution understand they're lying but i also think this

00:34:02.700 I think by my neighbor, using your comparison, my neighbor having a sense of stability in their lives,

00:34:11.660 even if they're working, let's say, a minimum wage job and they're holding on very, very tightly and they're making it work,

00:34:18.980 but it's kind of at the bare minimum, ensuring those people don't fall, even if I'm, let's say I'm a horrible person.

00:34:27.720 let's say

00:34:30.640 even if I don't care about other people

00:34:36.720 let's say I just care about me

00:34:39.720 and what I'm going to achieve

00:34:42.360 if my neighbor falls

00:34:45.140 I will have to pay

00:34:47.760 my health care costs will go up

00:34:51.280 crime will go up

00:34:53.620 security issues will go up

00:34:57.540 when when my neighbor falls there goes my business nobody's buying from my store anymore

00:35:06.540 if we don't have a consistent middle class lifting up people that are at that breaking point

00:35:16.000 because if we can do that yeah that stability helps everybody and I'm so exhausted hearing

00:35:24.160 people say, put your own bootstraps kind of people, trickle down economics. I mean, Reagan's

00:35:30.900 been gone a long time. It's all been disproven. Yeah. And again, when they talk to me and

00:35:38.800 they'll say, oh, Joanna, but you're so utopian and it's all like holding hands and singing

00:35:43.700 Cuba. No, be selfish. Be selfish. You own a business, be selfish. Understand if your

00:35:49.780 neighbor can't buy your product you go out of business yeah you all fall yeah right and i think

00:35:56.360 kids being able to eat and as a teacher funnily enough i'm eating an apple i've run a bag of

00:36:01.560 apples the other day and i took a bite and because students are heathens i had a student say can i

00:36:08.480 have that i said you want the apple i've just bit well i haven't you know it's like kids are like

00:36:15.480 starved and these are kids I work at a listen I work at a private school my kids are but the

00:36:21.460 problem is we we've shifted to a society where it's like very easily accessible food it's a lot

00:36:27.680 of bad food again I'm going through all the drive-thru and I bring in some apples yeah and

00:36:33.060 all of a sudden kids are like oh my god I feel so much better when I eat that it's so true I feel

00:36:38.020 I work better than an apple I work better when I have food in my stomach I have kids that are

00:36:43.220 rolling into class that haven't eaten because they just don't have time for it um but the way

00:36:48.720 that it changes education people still we we haven't even got to this and i've been talking

00:36:53.420 a long time so i'm not going to keep you here all night um but when when kids have something in their

00:36:59.740 stomachs yeah and it means their brains can work absolutely if they don't again and this is focus

00:37:06.860 a societal issue yeah if they can focus and they can get their work done and they can understand

00:37:12.660 it and they can become more aware and more empowered and they move on to do guess what

00:37:18.760 we've just created that exact story so that I've just talked about yeah so by giving kids the food

00:37:26.040 that they need by ensuring that both kids that desperately need it economically socially

00:37:31.260 culturally that is all incredibly important but it will lead to better education better

00:37:38.100 classroom results, better test scores, better all of those things. My job here is I'm dismissed.

Unlearn16: Class is in Session - December 03, 2024

The One Where EVERY Student Gets Breakfast AND Lunch

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