Misplaced priorities

Council made it clear last week that County roads, a few loads of gravel and rural road sweeping are more important than making sure its residents have food in their bellies.

During last week’s budget deliberations, the Food Security Working Group (FSWG) put forward an ask of $60,000 to be used to help fight food insecurity. Of that amount, $20,000 was actually a carry forward of money it didn’t spend from funds granted in the 2021 budget. The FSWG was asking for its standard $20,000 of support this year, plus an additional $20,000 to help hire its very first paid staff position—a Food Collective Coordinator— a position the group feels is needed to move forward and advance the program.

A few statistics: According to the FSWG, 80 per cent of the people who endure food insecurity in Prince Edward County are not being served. In 2021, this group put in over 11,000 hours of volunteer time, feeding thousands of people in our community. It applied for and received half a million dollars in grants and funding. This took the work off the backs of the municipality, who also has no strategy to create food policy or the means to address food insecurity.

The group feels a coordinator is needed. While the group can apply for grants for food, it appears it can’t apply for grants for funding a salaried position. According to Glen Wallis, a member of the working group, typically, the person who is paid to oversee the day-to-day operations is paid for by the municipality. In fact, Wallis contends that of more than 200 similar organizations, Prince Edward County is the only one entirely operated by volunteers. With the support for food programming for a coordinated approach, it would allow the group to leverage higher resources, being able to apply as a collective to look at funding that is going to support innovation and larger food programming. It would also help with the high level of volunteer burnout and how it is not sustainable to be dependent on volunteers.

After Wallis’s deputation on Thursday, Mayor Steve Ferguson remarked that the group does fabulous work and it does not go unnoticed.

But this notice helped them not at all.

Council carried forward the unspent $20,000 from last year, but elected to add a stipulation to it that it must be spent on food. It can’t be used to help hire a coordinator. It did not approve the additional $40,000 ask. The message is loud and clear: Council knows best. It needs to micromanage the group.

There were comments from Council regarding having a paid position in a volunteer group. Some councillors thought it would cause tension. “Once there is government involvement, it becomes more expensive and less effective. Prove me wrong,” spouted councillor Jamie Forrester. This could be true. But let’s leave it to the group to work out those kinks.

During the same budget deliberations, council passed a motion to see $20,000 added to the budget to sweep rural roads in the spring, an additional $200,000 to put towards purchasing gravel, and an additional $624,000 to be put into a roads reserve for future work. Surely, if we can throw $20,000 on the table to sweep rural roads free of winter salt and sand, we can come up with a similar amount, or ideally more, to keep those most in need from going hungry.

The folks who are in need of food in our community aren’t those who have benefited from the price of housing going up. They rely on foodbanks so that they can continue to live and give back to our community. It should be a priority to keep them living here. Not push them away. Instead, council talked for two-and-a-half-days about making things more affordable for its taxpayers, and then passed along a 5.52 per cent tax increase. This only pushes food further away from the table of County residents.

Wallis said it best in his deputation to council on Thursday evening. “This isn’t just about food. This is about community.”

But for council, it’s about delivering on the wrong priorities.

corey@wellingtontimes.ca