Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 17, 2022 -

The federal government had not developed a national emergency preparedness and response plan to manage a health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that impacted the entire food system and Canadians’ food security, according to a unanimous report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented today by John Williamson, Chair of the Committee.

The Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit in 2021 that focused on whether selected federal departments and agencies protected Canada’s food system during the COVID-19 pandemic by effectively designing, delivering, and managing programming to:

• help reduce food insecurity in Canada through the Emergency Food Security Fund, the Surplus Food Rescue Program, and the Nutrition North Canada subsidy program; and

• support the resilience of food processors in the agriculture and agri-food sectors as well as fish and seafood sectors through the Emergency Processing Fund and the Canadian Seafood Stabilization Fund.

The audit found that although the emergency initiatives audited by the OAG helped to address some effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the government’s management of Canada’s food system, deficiencies with data collection and performance measurement meant that responsible departments and agencies did not know whether these programs achieved all of their objectives for reducing food insecurity or supporting the resilience of food processors in the agriculture, agri-food, fish, and seafood sectors.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee has made seven recommendations to help the Government of Canada better protect Canada’s food system in the future.