A Joined-Up Food Policy for Canada

Food, like air and water, is a biological requirement for life, but food policy has not been designed to reflect that reality. As with many industrialized countries, Canada has never had a coherent food policy that joins up the relevant domains, including agriculture, health, and social and economic development. Presented here is a set of principles, values, and goals that would be consistent with a joined-up approach, with a broad but comprehensive accounting of the policy instruments, structures, and governance models that need changing. Because of numerous obstacles, much of what is proposed here will have to be implemented from within existing policy and legislative architecture.