Juno News - January 26, 2026Food bank use SURGES as Carney unveils grocery rebate
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Summary
After 10 months of doing nothing about rising grocery prices, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced measures aimed at easing the affordability crunch. It won t come cheap. His government will spend almost $10 billion to increase the GST credit for five years, which could save a family of four almost $1,900 this year. There are also plans to direct millions of dollars more to tackle supply chain issues and money for food banks.
Transcript
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After 10 months of doing nothing about rising grocery prices, Prime Minister Carney has
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announced measures aimed at easing the affordability crunch. It won't come cheap.
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His government will spend almost $10 billion to increase the GST credit for five years.
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The benefit could save a family of four almost $1,900 this year.
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This is money that goes to individuals. This is money that goes to individuals.
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It goes directly to individuals. It's not based on what they spend. It's not tied here.
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Now, the fact, and they can spend that money on anything they want, as Canada, it's a free country.
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They spend it on anything they want, as they should.
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Lower-income Canadians, as you know, spend more of their, a higher share of their income on food and rent.
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So they're more likely to spend it on food, but there's no differentiation.
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There are also plans to direct millions of dollars more to tackle supply chain issues and money for food banks.
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Not everyone was impressed to this social media post by the food professor,
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breaking Prime Minister Carney to announce more GST credits today in a grocery store.
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Great. But instead of spending more cash, which risks inflating food prices even more,
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A GST cut would lower prices at the checkout immediately for all Canadians, not just some,
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2.2 million Canadians visit food banks every month.
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25% of Canadians are facing food insecurity and one-third of them are children.
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Inflation in Canada is running hotter than in every other G7 nation.
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Carney also responded to online attacks from President Trump.
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On the weekend, Trump threatened to slap 100% tariffs on Canadian imports
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if Canada moved ahead with a trade deal with China.
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Carney also dismissed Trump's insults and name-calling as a negotiating ploy.
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Since your speech in Davos, we've had Donald Trump threaten fresh tariffs
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He's rescinded your invitation to the Board of Peace.
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He started calling you governor like he did your predecessor.
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I'd like to know what you think about all that,
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and what impact you think your speech had on Canada-U.S. relations.
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Well, I think the first thing is that my comments in Davos
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laid out how we see the world, a recognition of how the world has changed.
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We are entering soon a negotiation or review formally of KUSMA,
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our agreement, as you know, with the United States and Mexico.
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The president is a strong negotiator, and I think some of these comments
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and positioning should be viewed in the broader context.
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He is CEO of the Daily Bread Food Bank, and you can find the Daily Bread Food Bank
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It's a snowy day, so there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of people behind you.
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Neil Hetherington Well, there's not a lot of activity inside the warehouse
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But unfortunately, a lot of activity in the food bank.
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The food bank, despite the fact that we're closed,
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to get the food that they need for their families.
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Neil Hetherington Yeah, and these people need help.
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I mean, food security amongst 25% of Canadians, a third of them being children.
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2.2 million people a month visiting places like yours.
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What goes through your mind when you see those numbers?
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Neil Hetherington Well, obviously, I'm saddened
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for the individuals that need to come and make use of food charity.
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Nobody in a country as rich and as wonderful as Canada is,
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should have to make use of charity in order to get by.
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And here in Toronto, now one in 10 Torontonians has to make use of the food bank.
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330,000 people every single month are getting their food from the Daily Bread Food Bank.
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but I'm also angered by it because it doesn't have to be that way.
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Neil Hetherington We know that there are policy solutions out there
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that can change what we see on the ground every single day.
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we do have an announcement today, which I'm sure you've heard from the Prime Minister,
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talking about measures aimed at easing the affordability issue.
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The government's going to spend almost 10 billion over the next five years to
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Neil Hetherington Well, they certainly are going to help.
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Neil Hetherington We talk about three things that have to be done in order to
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Neil Hetherington The first one is build affordable housing.
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Neil Hetherington And so there has been significant announcements
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when it comes to the build Canada homes projects and 13 billion dollars there.
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Neil Hetherington The second thing is around income supports.
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Neil Hetherington And so you look at the new Canada disability benefit.
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Neil Hetherington So targeted benefits to people that can't derive their income from employment.
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you know, remember, that's simply a reimbursement for what those folks have been paying in GST.
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So what the Prime Minister is doing is providing a bit of a top up, a 25% lift,
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so that that will provide some benefit to those Canadians.
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But the vast majority of it is what those individuals have already paid in a tax.
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Neil Hetherington Some people like the food professor,
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Dr. Charlebois says that he would welcome just a reduction in the GST altogether,
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just cut GST on food. Now, some people think, well, there is no real tax on food, but
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well, you look at the bill, this seems to be a tax on food.
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Neil Hetherington Well, I mean, I understand his point, it's much more straightforward, but we don't pay a lot
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of GST on food, as you already said. But the other thing is, it's targeted. And this credit is going to
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the most vulnerable in our society. You know, I have many friends who don't need that reimbursement,
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who don't need that tax credit. And yet, every single day, I work with thousands of individuals
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who do. And so my hope is that we can be very targeted in how we are approaching things,
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and not just doing a blanket benefit for all Canadians, because that, as we know, spurs
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inflation and does not have the intended social policy outcome that we hope for.
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And the fact that they can spend that money on really anything they want, does that give you
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reason for pause at all? I mean, they're not being restricted in terms of where they can spend the money?
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Not at all. You know, there's a study that was done by MasterCard, the MasterCard Foundation,
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and North York Harvest. And it talked about that same sort of concern. What happens if you give an
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individual on a low income additional funds? Do they go out and buy cigarettes and booze and lottery
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tickets? You know, those things that, you know, we used to, many people still, but we used to worry
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about. And the answer is no, they don't. What they do is they buy the food that they need.
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They pay for the TTC. They pay for transportation that they need. They pay for housing. And so,
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Well, that's good. I mean, organizations like Earth presumably are going to see some money
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allotted. I think 20 million has been allocated towards food banks. I guess that must be good
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Well, those funds won't actually come directly to food banks. They'll come to the systems that,
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you know, the transportation systems and that type of thing to make the mobility of food
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easier. It hasn't been worked out. But the bottom line is actually, we don't accept government money.
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Here at the Daily Bread Food Bank, we have a policy not to accept government money.
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And we're quite intentional about that. And there's two reasons for it. The first is,
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it allows us to have an honest conversation with politicians. You know, I speak on a regular basis
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with the mayor and the premier about what we see at the food bank here in Toronto. And if I was
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getting government funding, I might be hesitant in terms of giving them the full fact. I might be
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hesitant in terms of criticizing certain policies that are out there. And by being free of, by not
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accepting government funding, we can have an honest conversation. The second thing is, when you look at
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why people need food banks, because of a lack of affordable housing, or a lack of, say, disability
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incomes, if you're on disability, you receive $1,400 a month, I would much rather they take that
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the $20 million and put somebody's income not at $1,400, but at $2,400, which is the poverty line.
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Because that will result in fewer people needing the food bank. So let's not have government fund
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food banks. Let's make sure that we create the systems so that nobody needs a food bank.
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In terms of people who do need the food bank, I imagine you get people from all walks of life,
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obviously those who have trouble financially. Do you get a lot of non-Canadians coming there,
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do you think, or not? Yeah. When the international students exploded in terms of the number of
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international students, Canada had about 800,000 international students, and those students were
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duped by our government. Those students were told, you only need $10,000 a year to survive in Canada,
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$800 a month. And they were told they can only work some 15, 20 hours per month. So there's no way
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that you can make ends meet with that $800 that you saved up before you came to Canada, and being
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allowed to supplement your income with 20 hours worth of employment per month. And so at that point,
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we did see an influx of students coming to food banks because they needed the food bank.
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The government subsequently did an about-face. They did a 180 on that, and they said, listen,
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we need to have an immigration program that is appropriate, that is scalable, where we know that
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there is going to be housing, where we know the person coming to Canada has at minimum now not
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$10,000 per year, but about $22,000 per year. So we've seen a tremendous decrease in those direct
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numbers just since that policy change came into force a year ago, June.
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What about refugee claimants, asylum seekers, that sort of thing?
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Yeah. At the same time, Mark Miller made significant changes on that front. And so
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we've seen the outcome of that. By and large, individuals who are coming to food banks have
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been in the country more than 10 years. They are permanent residents. The thing that's really
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alarming, Mark, is the fact that, and this is the really troubling one, the fastest growing group of
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individuals coming to food banks are between 19 and 44 years old, 60% have a post-secondary education,
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and 50% of them have full-time employment, and yet they still can't make ends meet.
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And that to me is incredibly troubling. Like where that social contract we used to have,
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you know, growing up, I was always told if you go to school, you get a job, you work hard, you'll be
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fine. That isn't true anymore. And that to me is really very troubling for our country.
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Well, do you see people driving in with like new BMWs and Audis and, you know,
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I mean, I only ask because there might be some people who are in debt, you know, because they
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made purchases. And then at the end of the day, they find themselves short on money for food,
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you know? Yeah, no, we don't see that. Just think about like the tremendous burden it is to cross the
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threshold of a food bank doorway and say, I need to get three days worth of food. And the hit to ego,
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the hit to your sense of, you know, pride that you might have. So we don't, we certainly don't,
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we don't see that. I mean, but I think to your question though, and maybe the underlying is,
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are there individuals who come to the food bank who don't need the food bank? And I think that that's,
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you know, I get asked that from time to time. I don't see it. We have a rigorous process to go
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through in terms of registration and that type of thing. But I think it'd be naive. And I think
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it's naive of any charity to say that there isn't individuals who you take advantage. And the question
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is, is it scale? Is it, is it of significance? And the answer to that is an unqualified no.
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For 10 months, which Prime Minister Carney has been in his position, including the election, plus the time
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that he took over a leader of his party and then became prime minister. Now we have some focus on this.
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I mean, to what degree has it become a political issue? Do you see that perhaps with some talk of
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an election coming that, I mean, the prime minister, the liberal party saw a real important need to
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shore up support amongst those whom in the age group that you mentioned are among those that frequent
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the Daily Bread? Well, I hope that it's a political issue. And certainly my name and the Daily Bread
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stats and our research are cited in the House of Commons almost on a weekly basis. And they're cited
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both by the leader of the opposition as well as the government. And I appreciate that. That means that
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there is a dialogue and there is a recognition that we have a fundamental problem in our country.
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I mean, growing up, I don't know if it's your experience, but it certainly was my experience,
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that food bank usage always seemed to be on the fringe. It was never somebody that you knew.
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At least in my case, I didn't know folks who needed to make use of the food bank. And now I do.
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You know, I'll give you an example. I met a person in media who is a producer and that individual,
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you know, went to school, has a job, has a job with benefits, and they're making about $50,000 a year.
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And I saw them in line at the food bank. And you question, is that appropriate? And then,
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and so we had a conversation and she talked about the fact that she has two children and she pays
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about $2,200 a month in rent. So with that, $2,200 a month, $50,000 after tax is $36,000. You got your
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rental payments. That left her $500 a month to feed the three of them. The average Canadian eats about
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$360 to $390 per month in food. And so already she's underwater and she hasn't paid for clothes
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for her kids. She hasn't paid for transportation. And so you can see how frustrating it is that
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somebody with what we would consider or used to be a decent income can't sort of get by. And so I am
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glad that it is a topic of conversation and I just want to make it a topic of action. I want to see
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things like additional housing being built. I want to see income supports increase,
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like the Canada disability benefit, which target specific individuals who are legislated to live
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in deep poverty. I am still, I'm maddened by the fact that in Ontario, you get $1,400 a month for,
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if you're on disability and the poverty line is $2,400. How in good God's name,
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do we expect somebody making $1,400 a month who is in that vulnerable category to be able to thrive
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in their community? They can't. Worse than that, you would have seen the same homeless individual
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out on the street month after month, year after year. You start to recognize the same face.
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In those cases, if they find themselves unhoused, the government says, since you're not paying rent,
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that $1,400 is now going to be $700. So how do you expect a homeless individual on disability with
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a mental health crisis or a mental health issue to be able to get first and last month's rent
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while only having $700 a month to survive on? You can't. No matter how significant and how educated
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you are, you cannot save that first and last month's rent in order to get back into a house situation.
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So we have a whole host of policy issues. I've dragged on to your original question is,
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is this a political issue? The answer is yes. It's also a political solution.
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So if it becomes an election issue, you're fine with that?
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I want it to be an election issue. Absolutely. Every election, I want people to be talking about
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the most vulnerable in our country. And I'm glad that it doesn't matter which party,
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they are talking about it now. And more importantly, I am hopeful that that we can,
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through policy alternatives, give them the policy frameworks to be able to walk back from the limb
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that collectively we as a nation, as a country and as a city are on.
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Of course, you also have the people who are suffering from substance abuse issues. And Canada
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has kind of liberalized its drug policies to such a degree that that may have meant that more people
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had access to drugs of one type or other. Talk about illegal drugs, hard drugs, that sort of thing.
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Do you see much of that playing into the services you provide?
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We don't really. Most of the individuals that we serve have some type of housing.
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And but in terms of substance abuse, you know, we don't we don't spend a lot of time speaking about it
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here at the at the food bank because that's not our area of expertise. So more on a personal side
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of things, I want to make sure that it is treated as a health issue, that we we make sure that folks
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who have a substance abuse challenge in their and their life get treatment. You know, I used to,
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I used to through Dixon Hall run shelters where there were individuals who would overdose and they
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would go and they go to detox and they'd be there for two or three days. And then they would be forced
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to come back to the shelter and told that they would have a rehab spot in six to eight months. Well, you
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can imagine what happened between the re-entry into the shelter and that six months. And so I would love
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to see a stronger, more dedicated resolve to making sure that rehab is available. We didn't have the
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same drug crisis that we used to have in in this country. And and I think that it is by, you know,
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I would love to see us ensure that it is a health care issue, ensure that people have access to the
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resources to to remove themselves from substance abuse. And, and that we, we reframe the conversation
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that we currently are having. You know, how do people access your services there at the Daily Bread
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Food Bank? Well, we we we provide food for about 200 food banks all across the city of Toronto. And so
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the easiest thing for somebody who needs food to get food is to visit 211.ca or just call 211.
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And they will let you know the hours and the locations of the food bank that are, that are
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closest to you. Thank you so much for coming on the show, Neil. We really appreciate it.
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I appreciate the conversation. Thanks, Mark. Bye-bye. And if you enjoyed the show and appreciate
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