There’s no shortage of irony in food-related news coming out of the municipality these days.

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the public health unit announced recently that one in five Chatham-Kent households struggles with food insecurity.

Simultaneously, a post on the municipality’s Facebook page seeking a restaurant or catering company to provide pre-meeting meals to council has generated such a backlash that the following edit was added: “We have noted community feedback regarding this post. Council is aware of the comments, and discussion is taking place on the topic. Please note that these meals are for councillors who often have primary jobs and attend council meetings that sometimes run from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and come directly from their primary job with no time to prepare meals in between. We appreciate the feedback, it is not going unnoticed.”

In other words, local taxpayers – 20 per cent of whom are struggling to put food on the table – are subsidizing meals for people who have not one, but at least two revenue streams because they can’t figure out how to pack a meal or plan a drive-thru pit stop in advance.

Now, to be fair, these meals are nothing new. They were going on back when I was still a paid reporter covering said meetings. And no, the media were never invited to the party!

Rather, I........

© Sarnia Observer