Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc. has formally proposed the Canadian Authority for National Food Distribution (CANFD) to the Government of Canada as a framework for advancing national food sovereignty, economic resilience, and Canadian unity.
Developed in response to Prime Minister Mark Carney’s call for Projects of National Interest, the CANFD provides a practical structure to ensure Canadians benefit directly from the food grown, processed, and labeled as “Made in Canada.” By prioritizing Canadian ownership, ingredients, and reinvestment, the framework keeps profits, jobs, and production capacity within Canada’s borders while creating opportunities for small producers in every province. The model reinforces national unity through shared prosperity and food security and is designed to become fully self-supporting within three to five years.
By year five, the CANFD network is projected to generate approximately $4.6 billion CAD in annual domestic economic activity, including $1.2 billion CAD in new GDP contribution—value not currently captured in Canada’s food economy. These gains come from repatriating manufacturing margins, reinvesting food profits within Canadian communities, and activating under-utilized regional production capacity. The model is expected to create more than 24,000 new jobs across the country, many in rural and peri-urban areas, while remaining financially self-sustaining without long-term federal subsidies.
To make the system fully accessible to Canadian producers, Brooks Pepperfire Foods has asked the Government of Canada to invest $286 million CAD over five years to establish the national distribution framework. This investment would open federal market access currently controlled by multinational distributors and build the infrastructure needed for small and medium producers to compete on equal footing across the country.
“This is about Canadian sovereignty — not slogans,” said Tina Brooks, co-founder of Brooks Pepperfire Foods. “As small hand-batch co-packers, we’ve proven that local sourcing and transparent production aren’t just possible — they’re sustainable and can form the backbone of Canadian food sovereignty. Everyone eats. Everyone should eat as well as the Prime Minister can, not just those who can afford high-end grocery stores. The CANFD scales our model nationally so Canada can define its own standards for real food — keeping profits onshore and using them to strengthen our system.”
“True food sovereignty throughout the empire. France does it — why can’t we?” added Greg Brooks, founder and master sauce-maker. “Canada is a huge country, but we’re on one continent. If food is safe for one province, it should be safe for another. What we need is access — a fully integrated distribution system that opens the country for business. Producers in Nova Scotia should face the same distribution costs as those in Skidegate, Flin Flon, or François. That’s how we deliver home-grown, real Canadian food to all Canadians — especially those who are financially challenged.”
“Our company manufactures for several Canadian partner brands that share this philosophy — all facing the same market barrier: distribution. Our real-world experience provides government a ready-made framework to implement and build upon. We use federal food-safety processes and standards to bring genuine hand-batched products to market, and we’re sharing that knowledge with producers in Haiti and Turks and Caicos to help them build local food sovereignty. The important thing is that, right now, small companies like our clients cannot access the Canadian market.”
The CANFD framework empowers micro and small producers across Canada to meet national food-safety and labeling standards and to access national distribution without reliance on restrictive corporate channels. It connects compliant regional manufacturers to national markets, uniting thousands of small companies and cooperatives to contribute directly to Canada’s food capacity. The initiative replaces corporate gatekeeping with shared responsibility and economic opportunity, while expanding real food access to remote communities nationwide.
The Canadian Authority for National Food Distribution (CANFD) proposal formalizes over two decades of small-batch, locally sourced manufacturing experience from Brooks Pepperfire Foods and its 30 partner brands. It establishes policy foundations for transparency, traceability, and fair domestic trade — all core principles of a secure Canadian food economy. A healthy Canadian food economy feeds itself first, with real, good, real food.
The full CANFD document is available for download at Pepperfire.ca, where media and policymakers can review the proposal in detail.
Download and Contact
- Download: https://pepperfire.ca/canfd
- Contact: tina@peppermaster.com
- Website: https://peppermaster.com
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