Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taichung mayoral candidate Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) this week provided details of his “free school lunch” program at several campaign rallies, while Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who is running for re-election, criticized the plan.
Tsai said the pillars of his program would be good nutrition, local produce and “rigid testing to minimize chemicals and pesticide residues.”
If elected, Tsai said he would ensure that “students can have a nutritious lunch at school every day without their parents paying for it so that all children eat well and stay healthy.”
Photo: CNA
Another top priority would be to ensure that school lunches do not contain residues of pesticides, Tsai said, citing studies conducted over the past two years that found elevated levels of such residues in school lunches in the six special municipalities.
After decades of population growth, Taichung has in the past few years seen stagnation and even decline, he said, attributing the trend to the above-average financial burden on young families in the city.
“Providing free school lunches is a good way to reduce the burden,” he said.
The program would ensure that local produce from sustainable agriculture is used, he said, adding that schools would be encouraged to organize trips to farms where ingredients for the program are grown “to show children where their food comes from.”
The budget for the program would be about NT$2 billion (US$63.2 million) per year — “a large figure” that would also benefit local farmers and help reduce Taichung’s carbon footprint, he said.
However, Lu said the program would not have the intended effects, and the focus should be narrowed to help low-income families.
“We should help to solve the problems for those families,” she said. “There are more than 20,000 children in Taichung who cannot afford to eat lunch. This is about one in 15 children.”
However, those children are eligible for free school lunches under the current program, she said.
Tsai yesterday said criticized Lu’s choice of words, especially that he said many children “cannot afford to eat lunch.”
“Such words hurt the feelings of low-income families,” he said, accusing Lu of implying that those families are unwilling to pay for school lunches.
“The Taichung City government uses public money to market Lu as a caring ‘mother mayor,’ but now we hear her cold-hearted talk about families in need,” Tsai said, urging Lu to apologize.
Tsai said another focus of his administration would be transportation.
He said he would expand the city’s mass transportation network with four new lines and extensions to existing lines.
Under his “100km MRT” plan, construction of the Blue Line would start in the coming four years, the route for the Orange Line would be finalized, a Circular Line would access the city’s south, the Green Line would be extended, and a tram would be built to access Houli (后里) and Waipu (外埔) districts, he said.
City government officials said that Lu has been promoting mass transportation network expansion throughout her term.
Meanwhile, Lu appeared at a campaign event in Fongyuan District (豐原), where 79-year-old Taichung Councilor Chang Ching-fen of the KMT is running for re-election.
“Everyone respects her at the city council. Chang has served as councilor representing Fongyuan her entire career,” Lu said. “She has safeguarded the people of Fongyuan, just like Queen Elizabeth II did in the UK.”
She also likened Chang to the Goddess Matsu — a statement criticized at a separate event by Chen Juo-ting (陳若庭), a Taiwan Statebuilding Party city councilor candidate.
“It is wrong for politicians to base their campaigns on the religious belief of their constituents,” Chen said, calling it “emotional blackmail.”
“It is also wrong to jump on the bandwagon of global mourning over the passing of a beloved monarch,” Chen added.
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