Juno News - July 29, 2026


Trump says NO THANKS to Canada’s trade deal


Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

164.48

Word count

2,056

Sentence count

108

Harmful content

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 hopes of renewing Canada's free trade deal with the United States just suffered another blow
00:00:09.900 in an interview on Fox News President Trump said he favors ending the current agreement
00:00:16.040 we have the hottest car business we're right now building more car plans that at any time in our
00:00:22.360 history Toyota just left Mexico they're building they they just announced they're building a 12
00:00:28.760 billion dollars worth of plants in the united states all because they want to avoid tariffs
00:00:34.000 they have no tariffs if they build their product here yeah so the usmca are you looking to update
00:00:39.700 that i don't care i mean i don't really want to i'd rather have i'd rather be independent here's
00:00:45.540 the thing mexico and canada need us we don't need them the deal is important for them it's not
00:00:53.300 important for us but canada's ambassador to the united states mark wiseman says americans don't
00:00:58.660 realize how important their northern neighbor is to their economy we are the largest buyer
00:01:08.580 of american automobiles outside of the united states of america by far we buy more american
00:01:17.380 automobiles in mexico japan germany combined um we're a really really important market we're the
00:01:28.260 number one export market for over 30 states in the united states we're the top three export market
00:01:38.900 for almost every state in the union we canadians on a per capita basis
00:01:49.300 by 40 times more American goods
00:01:55.000 than Europeans, Chinese, Indians.
00:01:59.280 According to Prime Minister Carney,
00:02:01.920 trade jocks with the United States are intensifying
00:02:04.120 following the latest threats of a 50% levy on Canadian goods.
00:02:09.600 Well, cash-strapped Canadians are making tough decisions
00:02:12.220 around the dinner table.
00:02:13.960 One in five say they've had to skip meals
00:02:16.820 due to high food costs.
00:02:19.300 BlackLock's reporter with this headline, Canadians cut back on meat.
00:02:24.400 Polling by the Federal Department of Agriculture found Canadians have had to cut back on things like beef, cheese, and other animal products.
00:02:33.180 It found a typical family is no longer able to meet the Canada food guide.
00:02:38.800 Canadians were asked during the last six months, have you skipped meals?
00:02:42.720 20% said yes.
00:02:46.140 Another 7% said they had visited a food bank or taken food from a charity.
00:02:52.000 Most Canadians look for marked-down items at discount supermarkets.
00:02:56.520 Nearly half of those polled had bought less meat, dairy, or fresh produce due to increased prices.
00:03:04.680 36% switched to canned or frozen foods instead of fresh meat or produce.
00:03:11.960 Meantime, this post by Canada Proud, Mark Carney's Department of Global Affairs spent $135 million on a program to give away free motorbikes in Ghana.
00:03:23.440 The program failed because the funding did not cover the cost of fuel and spare parts.
00:03:29.980 Our guest today is Neil Hetherington, Chief Executive Officer of the Daily Bread Food Bank.
00:03:35.340 Welcome, Neil.
00:03:36.500 It's good to be with you, Mark.
00:03:38.300 Let's have a look at some of these numbers.
00:03:39.880 they're pretty grim when you look at the fact that one in five Canadians, and this is a poll
00:03:45.160 that was done by the federal government itself, the Department of Agriculture, are skipping meals.
00:03:51.480 Seven percent of Canadians are going to food banks on a regular basis or getting meals through
00:03:58.040 some other charitable service. What do you make of these numbers?
00:04:02.680 Yeah, the numbers are horrific. So one in four Canadians, according to Statistics Canada,
00:04:07.320 are food insecure.
00:04:09.020 One in four.
00:04:09.920 It never used to be this way.
00:04:11.420 In Toronto,
00:04:12.240 one in 10 Torontonians
00:04:14.140 has to make use
00:04:15.200 of the Daily Bread Food Bank.
00:04:16.480 One in 10 are coming
00:04:17.380 to one of our 200 food banks
00:04:18.900 all across the city of Toronto.
00:04:20.860 And those numbers are horrific,
00:04:22.580 as mentioned.
00:04:24.100 And we can wallow in those numbers
00:04:25.740 or we can do something about it.
00:04:28.240 Yeah, and there are
00:04:29.040 some other numbers as well
00:04:30.420 that suggest that Canadians
00:04:31.740 are not getting as good nutrition
00:04:34.540 as they might otherwise do.
00:04:36.740 I mean, they're skipping on animal products like beef, for instance, and cheese.
00:04:43.820 These things are kind of expensive for some people.
00:04:46.840 And so, you know, are you concerned that some people are not getting the protein that they need?
00:04:51.700 Absolutely. It's not just the fact that they can't, they're skipping meals and going without.
00:04:57.020 It's how they change their diets.
00:04:59.680 And when they do that, you move away from those high in protein items, as you mentioned.
00:05:06.740 and you move towards more highly processed food.
00:05:09.720 And that's not good for the individual.
00:05:11.620 It's also not good for our country.
00:05:13.960 Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:14.660 A lot of people are switching, say, to canned or frozen instead of fresh.
00:05:19.120 I mean, we're always told to eat fresh vegetables and fresh meat.
00:05:24.280 And so if people can't afford those types of products,
00:05:27.800 then I guess they have to look elsewhere.
00:05:29.660 And they may have to resort to canned and frozen, which are not terrible.
00:05:35.000 But again, it's another case where we're settling rather than eating what's optimum.
00:05:42.080 And I guess the other side of this is the concern around children.
00:05:44.660 I mean, if you've got kids, then you're feeding your kids food that maybe is not as healthy for them as they should be getting.
00:05:53.560 You know, if you're talking about growing, you know, growing children, which children do, they grow, they need good food.
00:05:59.360 Absolutely. And so that's why we are behind things like the student nutrition program to make sure that there is a healthy meal at schools.
00:06:08.520 We're one of the only countries in the G7 who doesn't have a full hot meal at every school across our country.
00:06:16.780 And so there have been movements towards that that is positive for those children.
00:06:20.900 One in three food bank clients is a child. And so we have it within our power to look at these, you know, troubling numbers, these very difficult stories of children going without food or adults having to make compromises on the food that they are choosing to eat.
00:06:41.160 and that is troubling.
00:06:44.200 And so, again, you know, you start to look to,
00:06:47.380 well, how do you have hope?
00:06:48.580 What are the things that we can do as a nation
00:06:50.520 to be able to move things forward
00:06:52.920 so that everybody can thrive in community?
00:06:56.160 Yeah, and there are also issues around non-Canadians, 0.94
00:07:00.940 of course, who are here.
00:07:01.780 There's many of them, perhaps even millions,
00:07:05.520 whether they're temporary foreign workers or students
00:07:07.680 or under some other program.
00:07:09.560 Do you find that a lot of them are frequenting the Daily Bread Food Bank?
00:07:14.580 We saw a rapid change.
00:07:17.240 About a year and a half ago, Mark Millard brought in changes to the immigration programs that we had, particularly around students, international students.
00:07:27.700 We had a program that was, you know, where colleges, particularly in Ontario, but right across the country, were absolutely dependent on international students.
00:07:37.780 And so what we said to those students was, I mean, we effectively lied.
00:07:42.000 We said you only need $10,000 a year to survive on in our country.
00:07:47.040 Well, we know that not to be true.
00:07:48.960 And so they arrived here and they did not have the money that they needed in order to pay for what they needed.
00:07:54.780 And so as a result, food banks were picking up the slack.
00:07:57.980 We had good conversations with the government to say we as a nation need and are a nation of immigrants and we need new Canadians.
00:08:06.140 We need those new Canadians for the jobs that we have, as well as to grow our economy.
00:08:11.840 And so how do you have that balanced?
00:08:14.040 And so the major change that was done was not limiting necessarily the number of international students.
00:08:20.740 What it was was doubling the amount of money that they needed in a GIC each of the years that they were studying here.
00:08:27.040 Not $10,000, but $20,000 a year.
00:08:29.380 So that meant that they were no longer having to rely on food charity.
00:08:34.380 And we were not picking up the slack for a failed immigration policy.
00:08:39.660 And how are organizations like yours faring?
00:08:41.740 I mean, with the excess demand, are you able to supply those who need food?
00:08:47.460 Well, it hasn't been easy.
00:08:48.840 You know, it was just six years ago that we saw about 60,000 client visits per month in the city of Toronto through the Daily Bread Food Bank.
00:08:58.040 That number now is around 330,000.
00:09:01.200 And so what we've seen is a group of individuals who are committed to our mission, who have risen to the occasion.
00:09:07.740 You know, behind me right now, there are probably just under 200 volunteers from different corporations and individuals who have said, I want to make a difference.
00:09:15.960 I want to make sure my neighbor's fed. And so they have they've come out. They're volunteering their time.
00:09:21.180 Then there are others who have said, listen, I can't come out to volunteer.
00:09:24.620 But what I can do is make a donation to a five star rated charity, the Daily Bread Food Banks.
00:09:29.140 And they have gone on to provide us with the funds so that we can purchase the food that we need to make sure that everybody who has to make use of the food bank has the opportunity to get the food that they have a right to.
00:09:43.680 Yeah, I mean, and I don't know. Do you think the government is doing enough here?
00:09:49.320 I mean, we see them spend money on other programs, foreign aid, for instance.
00:09:55.460 And so there are some questions around whether or not there should be more help maybe provided to people for food.
00:10:03.300 I mean, this is like a basic thing.
00:10:05.260 You know, we're not talking about non-essentials here.
00:10:08.600 You've got to eat.
00:10:09.880 So do you look to governments a little bit more than you might otherwise do?
00:10:14.940 Well, we certainly don't look to governments to be able to fund us.
00:10:18.560 that's that's an important thing one of the things that i quite like is when the premier's here as an
00:10:22.880 example and he says listen we got to get money to you at the food bank i always say no you know if
00:10:27.920 we accept government funding then we can't have honest conversations about what the policy
00:10:32.320 solutions are um to your question in terms of would i like to see government do more yes it's
00:10:38.400 not about food necessarily it's about the precursors to why somebody has to come to the food bank
00:10:43.360 it's about how do we develop decent affordable housing across the country
00:10:47.680 In that end, I was pleased that we had Build Canada Homes come about.
00:10:51.060 There's $13 billion associated with that, and that's a capital investment that is bricks and mortar
00:10:56.100 that is going to ensure that Canadians, some $200,000 per year, have a roof over their head.
00:11:01.460 So that's positive.
00:11:02.820 We saw the federal government come forward with the Canada Disability Benefit.
00:11:06.920 You know, Mark, if you're on disability, you receive $1,400 a month to survive off,
00:11:12.360 and neither you or I could survive $1,400 a month unless we had friends, family, and charity.
00:11:18.460 And so the federal government said we're going to provide an additional $200 to each individual
00:11:23.260 who derives their income from disability benefits.
00:11:26.760 And so that's positive, but not enough.
00:11:29.200 So there are always opportunities at all three levels of government to be able to say,
00:11:33.400 how do we effectively take our poverty reduction strategies and start to have some wins here?
00:11:39.580 And so there have been movements forward. Our growth rate has started to decline.
00:11:45.180 We're still growing in terms of the number of people having to make use of the food bank, but that number has started to decline.
00:11:51.820 How do people support your organization?
00:11:54.280 Well, my hope is that they would either come visit us here in Toronto or that they would visit our website,
00:12:00.720 that they would take the time to be able to read about what are the systemic causes of food bank usage.
00:12:06.020 And then, you know, there's a wonderful quote by Martin Luther King Jr. where he wrote in
00:12:12.500 a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama, he said, everybody can be great because everybody can
00:12:17.060 serve.
00:12:18.060 And I believe that to be true.
00:12:19.660 Everybody can serve, whether it's advocating, volunteering, or donating through the Daily
00:12:24.400 Bread Free Bank.
00:12:25.400 All right.
00:12:26.980 Thank you so much, sir.
00:12:27.980 Appreciate it.
00:12:28.980 Thanks, Martin.