Time to serve up food policy on the municipal agenda

I couldn't help but pay attention to the recent debate on Toronto Council to ban soft drink sales from municipal facilities with a bit of both amusement and dismay.

To be sure, the policy intentions are good. But replacing sugary soft drinks with sugary juices is going to do very little to combat obesity or improve public health in anyway whatsoever. The debate appeared to be driven more by idealistic positions than any real concern over what Torontonians are consuming or where it comes from.

Of bigger concern is the fact that such policies are brought forward without the context of a more comprehensive food policy that better connects the food choices we make with overall public health and environmental objectives.

Toronto already has a Food Charter in place that sets out the framework of some basic but ambitious rights that we should be working towards. The Food Charter notes that we should be championing the rights of all citizens to adequate amounts of safe and nutritious foods, encourage community gardens, protect local agricultural lands, advocate for adequate income so that people can make healthy food choices, and support nutrition programs and better diets.

It also notes that Toronto should adopt food purchasing practices that serve as a model of health, social and environmental responsibility.

So where is the comprehensive food policy to go along with the Food Charter? And how did we end up with a such a narrowly focused and ineffectual debate on soft drinks.

Toronto and other municipalities in the GTA need to think more broadly when it comes to developing food and related public health policies. Picking on soft drink companies or banning junk food sales is easy to do but really misses the mark.

Denying people access to unhealthy food choices is only effective if it is done alongside a real strategy to make healthy food choices a realistic and affordable option for most people. This involves real municipal action, not just continued and futile attempts at regulatory solutions. Replacing soft drinks with juices (most of which have as much if not more sugar) is a lost opportunity, as was the failure of the street food debate.

Where are the actions that actually relate to the laudable goals of the Food Charter? Allowing more community gardens in our parks has proved wildly successful wherever it has been implemented. What we also need is improved infrastructure in our parks to allow people to prepare, consume, sell and trade the foods grown in them.

The growth of farmer's markets is only inhibited by the shortage of farmers to supply them. As urban dwellers we need to do a better job at understanding why farmers are reluctant to take part and provide incentives and program that make it easier for them to participate. And when it comes to healthy food choices, we need to have comprehensive policies and not knee-jerk reactions.

I think it's great that Coke will not be available at the City Hall cafe. But so what? The City still allows a french-fry truck to park at the edge of the the children's play area in High Park and promote the most unhealthy of all fast foods to my kids while spewing carbon emissions. Sunnyside Park is littered with two fast-food kiosks, including a Pizza Pizza, that offer not one single healthy food choice (even McDonald's does better than that). The issue is complicated for sure. But if we are going to take action, let's do it properly and effectively.

About Pino Di Mascio

A sweeping vision is in the details

I’m really having a hard time getting excited about any of the candidates or issues being discussed in the municipal races to date. I know it’s only April and October is a long time away but this should be the time when big ideas are being generated, promoted or at the very least tested.

Instead, I just keep hearing the same old issues and complaints without a real sense of what should be done about them or in which direction Toronto should be headed.

We all know the TTC is lacking in customer service and needs to be transformed to become more customer focused. But how? It’s clear that the Province’s cutting of transit funding will delay (if not kill) Transit City. Beyond complaining, how should we respond?

More bike lanes are a great idea for some and seen as social engineering against the car by others. That’s nothing new and therefore the controversy around them is not surprising.

But these are simply debates about issues that were framed by the last Council. It’s important to debate the merits of current initiatives but where are the new ideas? Who is articulating a new Vision of where Toronto should be headed. Wouldn’t it be great if we started to hear some great new proposals?

What about promoting urban agriculture in a big way and setting a target that 10 per cent of food consumed in Toronto be grown within its borders. Vancouver has made great strides in expanding backyard food production to include eggs from poultry and Toronto could go much further.

Why are we hearing so little about the environment? Car companies are desperate to expand the market for hybrids and electric vehicles and need cities to put in place infrastructure like plug-ins at parking stalls and gas stations. Why is Toronto (or anyone else in the GTA) not looking to put such infrastructure in place and revamping its parking policies to match. Aren’t we an automobile manufacturing centre?

These are only two simple ideas. Many others are imaginable. Increasing the diversity in our municipal Council and municipal staff to better reflect the city. Installing dual water pipes in buildings so that we don’t need to shower with drinking water or flush it away. Finally recognizing that waste from energy is a laudable and environmentally responsible strategy. Signing a long-term agreement with the school boards so that instead of spending $20 million per community centre we could actually use the publicly-paid-for gyms and swimming pools and meetings spaces that too often sit empty.

I almost no longer care what the idea is, as long as it is a positive look forward and not simply a negative attack on the present. I’m desperately waiting for someone to articulate a Vision and get me excited about this election.

About Pino Di Mascio

Your city, my city – which city?

Pino Di Mascio.

As I look forward and think about the kind of city I want Toronto to be, I can’t help but wonder what the geographic extent of that city will be. Where does it begin and where does it end?

I was born downtown, started school in the St. Clair/Dufferin area and grew up in Malton. My parents eventually moved to Brampton and then Woodbridge but I found my way to North York, the Annex and now Roncesvalles. I can ride my bike to work at Queen/Spadina but need my car to attend meetings in Vaughan or Whitby or Oakville. My kids have the luxury of walking to school but need be driven to birthday parties in Mississauga’s industrial parks or ski lessons in Barrie.

My city is both intimately small and extensively large at the same time. It is much more than the immediate neighbourhood in which I live and greater than the municipal corporation to which I pay my property taxes (which by the way are far lower than they should be or than others in neighbouring municipalities pay). We all need to come to grips with this reality – even those whose daily geography is quite small and compact.

Our ccity is a collection of many communities and many places with diverse populations and diverse issues, all spread over a vast land area of concrete, natural areas and countryside. The challenge is in how we interpret this landscape. Will we embrace the regional aspect of our city or will we see ourselves as a collection of kingdoms and moats?

Making regional connections at a municipal level is not easy. It requires being able to promote local needs but not resorting to parochialism. So, more downtown bike lanes are a good thing but they won’t make for a great city if we don’t invest in youth programs or improved services in our inner suburbs. Transit City is essential, but so are the Spadina and Yonge subway extensions and better GO service. Ongoing intensification is the most sustainable land-use planning policy we can implement, but if it doesn’t stop sprawl and the loss of farmland in places like Caledon or southern Simcoe County, how do we benefit?

As I wonder about the city proper and who will lead it over the next four years, it’s very important to me for those people to have a clear regional vision. We shouldn’t be exploiting the divisions that exist within the city the way previous municipal elections and municipal councils have done. Instead we should be celebrating our diversity by finding common ground on which to build a great city. This also means working cooperatively with our municipal partners outside of Toronto. Imagine that – a political landscape lacking in blame and and full of collaboration.

About Pino Di Mascio