As the federal election draws closer, the likelihood of any minor political issue transforming from a molehill into a mountain increases substantially, as the various parties search for any advantage they can use against their opponents.
Such was the case with the recent “controversy” over the Canada Food Guide, which was updated back in January.
To sum up: while speaking to the Dairy Farmers of Canada, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer criticized the Food Guide for not being based on sound science. In turn, the Liberals responded by saying they conducted months of research and consultation with nutritionists, and then various shots were fired back and forth between the two sides..
If you want a more comprehensive run-down of how this debate happened, you should look to this week’s Town & Country, as we did an interview with MP Arnold Viersen on the subject.
Now, in the Conservatives’ defence, Scheer was correct when he said the Liberals were exaggerating his comments.
Yes, Scheer said he wanted to review the Canada Food Guide in front of a room full of dairy producers, but as far as we can tell, it was simply a response to a dairy producer asking about the party’s food policies, not part of his main address.
Back in January, the Dairy Farmers of Canada came out with a news release stating they were concerned the Food Guide did not reflect the “most recent and mounting scientific evidence available.” It’s pretty clear that Scheer was simply echoing the concerns of his audience.
When the Conservatives actually come out with an agriculture platform, it’s unlikely a review of the Food Guide is going to be a high priority.
That said, it is fair game to refute Scheer’s claim that the Food Guide was not based on science. If you have a look at the actual dietary guidelines that are meant to be read by health professionals and nutritionists, you can see a rather lengthy list of experts from colleges and universities across Canada that the Liberals did consult. The notion that the Liberals didn’t use science in building the updated Food Guide is absurd.
It’s certainly a different food guide than we’ve had in the past, in that it’s moved away from “Drink/eat X servings of Y food every day.” Now it’s more general in nature, instead encouraging Canadians to make fruits and vegetables about half of their diet and to split the other half between protein foods (which includes dairy products) and whole grains.
That doesn’t mean that the Liberals are trying to destroy the dairy industry, or that they’ve tossed aside sound science because they want to tackle climate change. The Food Guide only mentions the environment in the context of reducing food waste — is that not a goal we can all agree Canadians should strive for?
