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Skyrocketing prices are forcing more Canadians to make tough decisions, leaving even middle-class families to choose between buying the food they need and paying their bills.
A recent survey from Food Banks Canada found that nearly one in five Canadians reported going hungry over the last two years.
With the war in Ukraine contributing to the largest cost-of-living crisis of the 21st century, according to a United Nations report released this week, even families in wealthier countries are feeling the squeeze.
“The war in Ukraine has trapped the people of the world between a rock and a hard place,” a briefing from the United Nations Global Crisis Response Group states.
“The rock is the severe price shocks in food, energy and fertilizer markets due to the war…. The hard place is the extremely fragile context in which this crisis arrived; a world facing the cascading crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.”
Middle-class families barely scraping by
The current situation is making it tough for people like Dave Arsenault of Moncton, N.B.
He said that before the COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared in early 2020, he would have described his family of four as middle class. Now, he said, they live paycheque to paycheque.
“It feels depressing,” Arsenault said. “It’s frustrating because it’s through no fault of your own that your entire lifestyle changes.”
Feeding his family, which includes 11-year-old twins, is tough even with a double income, said Arsenault, who works at a newspaper printing press and is the president of his union local.
Both he and his wife, an office administrator, have unionized jobs with standardized yearly raises, but he said it’s still not enough to keep up with rising costs.
“It’s a definite struggle,” he said.
Canadians forced to cut back as inflation squeezes their budgets
5 hours ago
Duration 1:34
Torontonians share how they’re coping with inflation, from watching what they spend at grocery stores to keeping to essential purchases only.
Arsenault said the family used to be able to afford to stock up on extras when grocery shopping, but now they can only afford necessities — despite hunting for bargains.
“We’re barely just scraping by on getting enough for what we actually need,” he said. “We’ve cut out a lot of meat…. Instead of buying steaks, you buy pork chops.”
Arsenault said while he noticed a jump in prices early in the pandemic, it’s gotten a lot worse in the last six months.
“We run out of stuff a lot,” he said.
Surviving on oatmeal, eggs and tuna
Johnnie Barlow, a resident of rural Prince Edward Island, knows that reality all too well.
“In the last few months with the price of everything going up, there’s nothing left. By the first week of the month, I’m out of money,” he said.
Barlow currently relies on income assistance because he has a brain tumour that affects his thinking, making it difficult to work.
Since the financial support he receives isn’t enough to cover rising costs, he said he’s had to start restricting his diet.
P.E.I. resident Johnnie Barlow says living on a fixed income as prices soar means he’s eating less to cover the cost of other necessities. He relies on income assistance due to a health issue, and he’ll need to pay for car repairs in order to return to work. (Submitted by Johnnie Barlow)
Lately, Barlow said, he’s been surviving on oatmeal, hard-boiled eggs and tuna.
“I’m trying to stay healthy as cheaply as I can,” he said.
Barlow joked that “it’s great for weight loss” and said he’s trying to keep a positive outlook.
He’s also had to cut back on the nutritional supplements he used to buy, to help treat symptoms caused by the tumour.
Barlow, who lives 20 minutes from Charlottetown, said he’s hoping to soon return to his job selling home heating and cooling systems. But to do that, he needs to pay for repairs on his car, the only mode of transportation available where he lives.
“You have to spend money to make money,” he said.
Costs keep rising, but wages stay the same
Even families with more disposable income say they’re taking a hit.
Christine Taylor, who lives in southern Ontario, said she’s finding it hard to pay all of her family’s bills, and she worries about those less fortunate.
“This direction is not economically sustainable. It will break people — not only financially, but emotionally and mentally,” she said.
Taylor, who has a job in the fuel and energy industry, said she and her husband, who works in home and mobile electronics, bring in a combined annual income of about $85,000. Yet it’s not enough to keep up with all of the expenses that come with owning a home and raising two teens.
Christine Taylor, right, shown with her husband, says while her middle-income family is making ends meet by cutting out extras, she worries about those on fixed incomes who were struggling before costs started to rise. (Submitted by Christine Taylor)
“We just get by,” she said. “And costs keep rising and our wages stay the same.”
Taylor said they’ve postponed paying some bills in order to cover the cost of vehicle repairs.
She’s also started hunting for bargains at the grocery store and planning more meals that will make leftovers.
Extra expenses — like an annual family trip to Thunder Bay, in northwestern Ontario, or horseback riding lessons — are some of the cuts they’ve had to make.
WATCH | Food banks in Canada brace for summer of hunger as prices rise:
Food banks brace for summer of hunger
4 days ago
Duration 2:08
Food banks across the country are bracing for a summer of hunger as rising inflation pushes more Canadians to rely on charitable services.
“As a family within the middle class, we are feeling [the] struggle and cannot afford to do simple things on the side,” she said.
Taylor said while they’re tightening their belts, she worries about those on a fixed income who have no extras to cut.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
