Nutrition North should be for all Northern communities: NDP MP

The N.W.T.'s member of parliament is asking the federal government to make a federal food subsidy available in all northern communities.

Dennis Bevington questioned the fairness of the subsidy program during a Parliamentary standing committee meeting in Ottawa yesterday, where members discussed the Auditor General's recent report on the Nutrition North program.

"Your department knew that there were 50 communities that weren't being served by this program," Bevington said. "And you knew that it was going to cost $7 million to serve them. Did you not feel some responsibility to these communities? I think if you applied that to the tax system in this country there would be a revolt."

The auditor general's report last fall found that the department did not base eligibility on need.

Colleen Swords, deputy minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, said if communities didn't use the old food mail program, the assumption was they wouldn't need Nutrition North.

She says they're still identifying issues with Nutrition North, and community eligibility is one of them. She says that's why they're doing a survey on the program.

The department hopes to release the findings this summer.

Department must know profit margins: AG

At the same hearing, Auditor General Michael Ferguson clarified another recommendation issued in his report last fall: that northern retailers provide current profit margins and profit margins over time so the federal government can determine whether retailers are passing the full subsidy on to consumers.

"What we're talking about is making those profit margins accessible by the department," Ferguson said. "We're not asking the retailers to make any of those profit margins public."

Ferguson said transparency is important, but that doesn't mean the public should see how much a private business is making.

Swords, in response, said the department is looking at several changes, including more regular reviews, to make sure retailers are complying with the rules.

She also said that the rules should not compromise the competitiveness of retailers.