SUNDRE - Jason Nixon, minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services and Sundre-area MLA, says he is committed to ensuring food banks in the district and across the province have adequate funding going forward.
In her mandate letter to Nixon issued Thursday, Aug. 3, Premier Danielle Smith outlined the government’s expectations for the ministry, including in the area of food banks, affordable housing and seniors lodges.
Demand for food bank service remains very strong across the province, with the Mountain View Food Bank recording high levels of use in recent months.
Specifically regarding food banks, the mandate letter calls on the ministry to provide “adequate ongoing funding to food banks and other operators to ensure families have access to nutritional food in times of need.”
In an Albertan interview Friday, Nixon said he plans to consult with food banks to gauge need and demand.
“Definitely in our area we hear about it quite a bit, and particularly when it comes to fixed-income seniors,” said Nixon. “What the premier has instructed me to do is make sure we have adequate funding for all across the province.
“It has been one of the areas that has been hardest attacked on the affordability side. Government doesn’t have much direct control over the purchase of food, so we think the best way to help deal with that is by partnering with our great non-profit food banks to make sure that we are getting everybody access to food.”
Asked if the government knows how much additional funding food banks may need, he said, “I don’t know that number, but what we will do is sit down with food banks across the province, understand what the need is, put together a plan and get it done as soon as possible.”
The mandate letter also calls on Nixon to work with seniors lodge providers to “undergo a planned review for the purpose of expanding seniors lodges and facilities to keep up with increased growth and demand.”
Nixon says, “I'm going to be putting together a team, and this will be happening imminently, as early as this fall, that is going to go across the province and do a full review of our seniors lodges program to make sure that we know where challenges are.
“That will include everything from our staff structures to how much infrastructure needs to be maintained or repaired, and how much new infrastructure will be needed.”
The mandate letter also calls for Nixon to “work with the federal government and municipalities to ensure housing-related programs align with the housing needs of Albertans.”
The premier also wants Nixon’s ministry to “develop and implement an affordable and attainable home ownership and rental strategy that focuses on incentivizing the construction of new homes and rental units and creating additional financing options for prospective homeowners, while removing barriers for both homebuyers and renters.”
Marie Renaud, Alberta NDP critic for Community and Social Services and Janis Irwin, Alberta NDP critic for Housing provided the Albertan a statement in response to the Nixon mandate letter.
“This letter does nothing to address poverty, inadequate housing, food insecurity, unemployment, and underemployment of disabled and low-income Albertans,” said Renaud and Irwin.
“Albertans are looking for a government focused on doing the necessary work to address poverty. It is good that the UCP has committed to funding food banks, but this letter has no long-term vision, nor investments to address the causes and roots of poverty.”
