True Patriot Love - Why Canada’s Working Class Is Going Hungry

00:00:00.000 those numbers from the daily bread food bank in toronto are sobering frightening and shocking all

00:00:18.800 at the same time you heard what the man said a 273 increase in use pre-pandemic at the daily bread

00:00:27.280 food bank in toronto and unfortunately those are numbers that are reflected of food banks from coast

00:00:32.320 to coast in this great country and as we get towards the thanksgiving long weekend mike i

00:00:36.880 thought it's appropriate to talk about food banks in canada how overworked and underfunded they are

00:00:42.880 and how often they're being used now in this country uh yeah it is on the rise like no other

00:00:50.240 point in history uh you know save for the depression era and uh the stats are staggering

00:00:56.960 two million uh 59 000 visits to food banks across canada uh the highest monthly total ever recorded

00:01:04.880 in march of 2024 um that's really recent those numbers haven't changed much and the the stat

00:01:14.480 right now that shocks me is more than one in four households in canada one in four

00:01:19.280 are dealing with food insecurity because of a variety of reasons a lot of it is the cost and

00:01:25.360 you said something to me before we started i didn't realize this but it is true that you were saying

00:01:30.480 that there's a lot of people fully employed forced to use a food bank in canada no i know it's true i

00:01:36.000 mean uh more than ever before people that are fully employed and in some cases both parents or both people

00:01:42.080 in a relationship uh in a household are employed and still using the food bank to offset you know

00:01:50.720 the expenses that are just continue to rise on in food prices since january the price of beef sirloin

00:01:56.880 up 44 percent oranges up 40 coffee up 32 percent and climbing tim's just raised the price of their

00:02:04.880 coffee for the first time in three years looking back and last year to this year the price of

00:02:09.920 potatoes cranberries stuffing and gravy are all up in price year to year each and every year since the

00:02:16.160 pandemic a lot of basic staple food items and butter being one of them keeps going up and up and most

00:02:22.560 grocery stores my partner and i visit if butter's at 450 we get the max we're allowed to buy and

00:02:29.920 freeze the rest because the next time we go it's going to be double in price oh i think we've all

00:02:33.360 done the butter run yeah as we like to call it in our house okay what what do we first of all what are

00:02:37.280 we going to do with all this butter now that we bought it and uh why did we buy unsalted do you ever

00:02:42.320 get in that situation where you're like i'm salted what have i done well my partner uses it for baking

00:02:48.240 she specifically buys it for baking yeah that makes sense but yeah uh i do hate the shock when

00:02:53.200 that happens uh but no you're you're you're right like the basics that we build our lives around have

00:03:00.160 just become out of reach and that's where the food banks uh come into play 33 of food bank clients are

00:03:05.600 children i can't believe in canada thanksgiving 2025 that's a reality that's a reality we're facing yeah

00:03:14.080 and you just mentioned staples i don't want to reveal his identity for you know for just because

00:03:20.400 because i want to keep us anonymous but i know an owner of a no-frills franchise at markham who

00:03:25.920 basically is making no profit on sale of flower is selling at a cost because he knows how bad it is

00:03:31.760 and how tough it is for families he's not making any money on the sale of flower at his store because

00:03:37.200 he feels such guilt when he sees these people and and they know every sale and well that's the

00:03:44.240 thing if you weren't a sale watcher or a coupon clipper before uh you certainly might be now uh

00:03:51.840 regardless of what your position in life might be no matter what your status career-wise is

00:03:57.600 everybody is concerned about what they spend i saw grapes for i think 13.99 goodness a bag of grapes for

00:04:05.600 13.99 now grapes was a staple in my lunch growing up how can you make that a a regular nutritious

00:04:14.800 part of a kid's lunch at that price it's it's almost impossible and you raise a good point about

00:04:19.520 young people and saving money the cbc actually did a study and i thought it was interesting that

00:04:25.280 more 18 to 24 year olds are going to costco than ever before because they can buy in bulk and save

00:04:32.080 bulk pasta bulk sauces staples that would feed them and they're realizing if i can buy a big jar of

00:04:39.600 you know alfredo sauce and a big thing of pasta that's multiple meals jim i'm going to be honest

00:04:44.160 with you i don't know how good costco is for the retail market out there because buying in bulk like

00:04:50.880 that and and creating that uh retail environment makes it difficult for the no frills guy who's out

00:04:57.600 there trying to do something uh you know directly in the community but it it's all anybody can do now

00:05:04.880 is any means to go and find a better deal whether it means buying more whether it means buying slightly

00:05:12.720 off-brand i do like the kirkland stuff i'm not gonna lie by and large so people are making that

00:05:18.720 adjustment now big brands are going to suffer because they are that 25 cents or a dollar more

00:05:24.000 right now in canada from coast to coast it's unlike anything i've ever seen before that families of

00:05:31.120 multiple different income levels and social strata middle class working class upper middle class are

00:05:37.120 looking at trying to save some money buying groceries because it's such become such a big part of your

00:05:41.600 monthly budget so anywhere and anything you can do to save people are reaching out and looking and

00:05:47.280 going out of their way to save some money because it's such a drain on your budget uh check out this

00:05:52.160 stat from polaris strategic insights um fiscal stress many can't afford enough food uh a recent

00:05:59.440 quarterly survey found that 23 percent of canadians now report being unable to buy sufficient food up

00:06:05.760 from previous quarters by about 12 percent another report shows that food insecurity has risen 40 percent

00:06:13.120 over uh year over year over two years with 25.5 percent of households struggling to afford

00:06:19.680 food in 2025. i want to talk about that phrase food insecurity yeah what does it mean jim it means to me

00:06:30.640 that you have 80 dollars to shop and you need to buy 200 worth of food for your family and you don't have

00:06:37.520 that right you only have 80 and you have to buy the cheapest brands the cheapest food items possible

00:06:44.400 and stretch it as much as you can to feed your family to feed yourself for the next period of time

00:06:49.440 you have money that's what it means to me i'll tell you what i think i think that we've done a

00:06:53.840 disservice by using that phrase okay i kind of feel that the word is hunger yeah i don't think we should

00:07:01.200 water down the phrase hunger by calling it food insecurity for the sake of having a way to document

00:07:09.280 it or a way to statistically refer to it when you don't have enough food you go hungry when you go hungry

00:07:15.680 you become sick when you become sick you become a more uh occupied uh obsession of your family

00:07:23.600 you become a drain on our medical system it hurts all society it hurts society overall yes you break

00:07:29.120 hearts of people around you because your illness affects them hunger is the word we don't need two

00:07:36.240 words for it we don't need multiple syllables for it we need to remember that what we're doing is feeding

00:07:41.280 hungry people and when you put it in that context food insecurity sounds a little bit clinical and i

00:07:48.160 don't know why it's a great point mike why we have to sugarcoat the fact that there are tens of thousands

00:07:54.480 of canadians who are going to bed hungry every night how many stories have we heard about single mothers 0.96

00:08:00.560 who are using the food they have to make sure their kid or kids eat and are going without too many

00:08:06.480 stories and they go to work dizzy the next day because they've made the food available without

00:08:10.880 the proper nutrition in their body yeah and it's it's become an epidemic in this country that person

00:08:17.520 we would refer to as hungry yes they're hungry malnourished with a job making money and but because

00:08:27.440 of the prices of everything the price of rent the price of food they only have so much money left and

00:08:33.360 this is where all levels of government provincial and federal it's great you're building bridges

00:08:39.040 it's great that you're giving money to certain countries it's great we're doing this and that

00:08:43.120 we have to take care of base needs for the citizens of this country and that's feeding them so people

00:08:48.640 don't go to bed hungry at night let me run this by you jim 23 of canadians now report being unable to

00:08:55.600 buy sufficient food up from previous quarters another report shows that food insecurity has risen

00:09:02.720 40 over two years if i said to you jim canadians have gone hungry by more than 40 percent in an

00:09:16.000 upright in an uptick if i said to you 40 more canadians are hungry than just that has a way bigger

00:09:23.440 impact if i told you that 18.1 percent of people who are employed in this country are going hungry so

00:09:31.760 there are 42 million people in canada approximately give or take yeah and you're seeing 40 percent of

00:09:37.120 the country right right that's what 20 uh let me see 20 18 million people oh i'm sure the government

00:09:44.320 would love us to sugarcoat uh by saying we have food insecurity which sounds like you can't afford

00:09:50.160 joe louis right that's like 16 to 18 million people in canada are suffering from hunger at one point of the

00:09:57.040 day and hunger is a tough word to hear it's tough to say to the rest of the world canada's going hungry

00:10:04.880 no it's easier to say oh some canadians have food insecurity how many how many kids are going to

00:10:11.680 schools in this country without a breakfast how many people at work with a full-time job basically

00:10:18.800 have one meal a day one full meal and have little snacks here and there because it's cheaper i the numbers

00:10:24.160 are staggering mike i'll give it to you again one million unique individuals access food banks

00:10:30.160 that's up 25 over a prior year uh and this is uh last year 7.6 million total visits a 31 increase

00:10:39.520 over the previous year and 134 increase since 2019 the stigma was oh you poor person you have to

00:10:50.320 use the food bank that's not this that's not reality in canada anymore it's it's more the norm

00:10:56.000 than it's ever been ever and at an alarming rate 31 increase over the previous year and 134 increase

00:11:03.440 since 2019 that's 134 increase in hunger and mike we're about to get to thanksgiving the weather's not

00:11:14.240 getting warmer it's getting colder we're getting into winter and it's a scientific fact you need more

00:11:20.000 calories and carbs in winter to stay warm and vegetables and fruits increase in price there's

00:11:25.920 no way around it and you're staring at five or six months of even more hunger in canada more food

00:11:33.120 insecurity and more visits to food banks when they're they're maxed out and the majority of food

00:11:39.520 banks in this country including the von food bank yes shout out to von food bank on food bank 30 years

00:11:45.760 going strong fully volunteer they filled i think they filled a million uh meals unbelievable a year

00:11:52.800 in in york region up there but mike i'm thinking many across the country doing the same thing out of

00:11:58.240 necessity they're growing and they they take no money it's all volunteers um a lot of kids are getting

00:12:04.880 their high school volunteer hours helping but then they keep volunteering after they have their requisite hours

00:12:10.080 and it's at cities and small and median towns across this country and they're trying to get back

00:12:16.240 and help people that's what that's when i think thanksgiving i can't think of anything more

00:12:21.920 quintessentially canadian than the average canadian no matter what their age and background

00:12:26.720 trying to help people at the food bank i don't think i've ever heard anybody at the volunteer

00:12:30.800 level at the food bank ever use the phrase phrase uh food insecurity yeah i've heard them say we're

00:12:36.560 here to help the hungry the hungry yeah you know i know it's a buzzword and you know we're not supposed

00:12:42.160 to say that but there's no question that when you get to the point you're going to your local food bank

00:12:46.560 it's because you're hungry and you need something yeah don't let it become a statistical uh phraseology

00:12:52.160 that you get used to so i know the average person when they shop for their thanksgiving meal supplies

00:12:58.640 and vegetables and cranberry sauce and whatnot most grocery stores in canada have that little thing where

00:13:04.560 you can get a pre you know 10 15 and it's a bag of uh staple items and put and delivered to the

00:13:10.560 local food bank we're just begging everyone i know times it does whatever you can do one can of tuna

00:13:17.600 one cheap thing of peanut butter anything everything will add up and help people it is amazing how the

00:13:24.400 food drives uh they they cover these large events yes but all year long these food banks require this food

00:13:31.920 and thanks to suppliers uh of of the large corporate variety you see them donating people like your

00:13:39.120 friend there at no frills yeah uh they are all very good in in the community uh on this front i've seen

00:13:46.400 it for many years uh having family that are involved in in working at food banks having said that it is the

00:13:53.360 community and their ongoing spirit for food drives that feeds people uh it's important to note that because

00:14:00.000 if we don't we're going to find ourselves in a position where we expect the government to handle

00:14:05.200 uh food insecurity how did we get here i just thought this would be interesting how did we

00:14:09.040 how did we get here it's it's a combination of things the the price of rent went from a thousand

00:14:15.200 dollars a month to three thousand right the price of of staple items were the famous photos in

00:14:21.680 facebook and social media is i have a hundred dollars worth of food and now people come home from the

00:14:26.240 store who spent a hundred dollars and there's only a few items uh people are getting clawed back on

00:14:32.640 programs like disability assistance ei and social assistance have been uh have kind of widened the gap

00:14:38.320 between need and and affordability so affordability isn't even the question for many people in that scenario

00:14:46.400 they are desperate to get the food they they really need just at a staple level i know farmers in ontario

00:14:52.240 make approximately 45 cents 45 cents and a thing of butter that'll cost anywhere from six to eight

00:14:58.320 fifty so how does a farmer working from 5 a.m to what 10 p.m every day get 45 cents in a package of

00:15:07.600 butter in a grocery store and it retails for eight dollars there's something's missing there i'm not

00:15:12.960 understanding well there's big uh obviously big profit chunks that come out along the way you know massive

00:15:18.720 profit chunks and and i think that that's where we've over regulated to some degree where you know

00:15:26.080 there's only certain ways to do business there's almost like a cartel-esque uh approach to food uh

00:15:33.840 supply chain in canada and one of the things that was cited was pandemic and inflation aftershocks

00:15:38.800 covet disruptions supply chain breakdowns and post-pandemic food price inflation

00:15:43.600 have just remained we can't unring the bell that was coveted why can we not come back that doesn't

00:15:50.800 make sense to me the the covet ship has sailed a long time ago and the supply chain thing has been

00:15:56.480 so over examined and and we have no solution yet i can't believe that they're using that still as the

00:16:04.240 excuse to charge eight dollars for butter and you know whatever i mean you see the photos all the time

00:16:11.040 someone goes to buy a couple chicken breasts at the grocery store and like i can't do it and and

00:16:16.240 you're wondering why are people getting processed chicken nuggets because it's a fraction of the

00:16:20.880 price of an actual piece of real chicken now right and that's all they can afford once again contributing

00:16:26.400 to obesity diabetes all of these diseases that are associated with eating unwell then come back as a

00:16:34.800 burden on taxpayers and the health care system and they become uncomfortable people in our society

00:16:41.360 that are not happy our happiness erodes entirely in this manner and and and really jim i think that

00:16:48.080 i find this most irritating because the government our government seems to stand back maybe i'm wrong

00:16:54.480 about this and feel free to correct me our government seems to stand back and let it happen well inflation

00:17:01.920 is going up and well and there's a million justifications but we spend money in a bunch of different

00:17:07.760 places i would love to see 50 billion dollars just go back into canadians pockets to feed themselves

00:17:14.640 but we won't do that because it's food insecurity and not hunger we're dealing with but if you knew

00:17:20.960 that a huge portion of our country was going hungry you would see it as an emergency and you would do

00:17:26.160 something about it today i get a lot of feedback about true patriot love media a lot of feedback and i got a

00:17:32.080 a lot of people thanking us for what we're talking about because they're average canadians who even

00:17:39.040 if they're retired are still working because they have to right because they have to don't have enough

00:17:43.920 money to feed themselves they had a plan that no longer works because the economy has crashed around

00:17:49.360 them they're young people who got the degree like they were told and don't have enough money for

00:17:53.920 forever to do other things so they're doing extra side hustles to feed themselves so when the

00:17:59.280 government makes announcements and provincial federal all levels that we're doing this we're

00:18:03.360 doing that that is fine if you also make an announcement we're doing this to help canadians

00:18:09.440 the numbers are for everyone to see you can't tell me my local mpp and mp and premier and prime

00:18:16.880 minister don't know this they totally know what's going on and they totally understand in this country

00:18:21.920 what is happening to average canadians especially getting the thanksgiving weekend people are

00:18:26.400 desperate for a little help just so they can feed themselves like really thank god for food banks

00:18:31.760 because really what the government has put us in the position to do is barely be able to afford food

00:18:37.840 for our own families but also we must now take care of and most people thank goodness that our approach

00:18:44.240 to help feed another family will certainly do so if if possible but even their strain on families

00:18:50.560 that can afford to feed themselves out there trying to donate food yeah to that system that is there's

00:18:57.520 a gap in feeding people there's a gap in in nutrients that we're taking care of ourselves through the food

00:19:05.120 banks and thank goodness the food banks are there to distribute that otherwise i'm not sure how many

00:19:10.960 canadians would not be very sick right now i mike i i we'd be remiss if we didn't think a lot of great

00:19:17.760 farmers from coast to coast in this country who here we are at harvest time and are taking a portion

00:19:24.320 of their harvest and giving it to food banks well they're getting 45 cents on a pound of butter right

00:19:30.720 so why they're getting shortchanged on what they get for the produce and the fruits of their labor they

00:19:38.640 are giving back to food banks they're giving butter they're giving potatoes and carrots and necessities

00:19:44.560 to keep people alive because people are i think canadians at heart are good people exactly and

00:19:50.640 and that's where we have been left we're here now taking care of ourselves jim you'll donate to the

00:19:58.080 food bank i know you i know i know that you do as a matter of fact when our kids were young and we

00:20:02.960 would you know like hey let's go to the store i couldn't i was like sometimes you're busy you forget and

00:20:08.240 next you know our daughters both of them when they were like you know seven eight they dad don't forget this

00:20:14.000 it's the bag oh sorry about that yep got it and then they're proudly they put it in the bin no it

00:20:18.160 doesn't honestly when you are feeding somebody there's no greater no expression of love for your

00:20:24.080 fellow man i will feed you yeah and and i think that uh you your family happily will do that you have

00:20:32.960 every time you have the means to do that yeah that's nice but should you have to at a time where

00:20:41.200 those means are slimming you can't tell me jim i know you make 10 to 15 mil a year but

00:20:48.400 that's still slimming lira pesos you're gonna get pesos yeah well you know what still uh you know

00:20:56.000 you can throw the number around but the reality is even when it is more difficult for your family even

00:21:01.120 though you can feed yourselves it will be more difficult to help donate to somebody you will do

00:21:05.360 it and that's great on canadians and food banks because we've been put in this position and again

00:21:11.680 canadians at all income levels and all communities even have not communities in this country are

00:21:17.600 stepping up and helping and that's and they say it does my heart good it makes me so proud to be

00:21:23.280 canadian but all we're asking is when the government is going out of the way to help everybody else just

00:21:29.600 help ourselves now and then jim take care of our own the average uh family spends sixteen thousand

00:21:35.360 dollars a year on food okay now that's gone up to by eight hundred dollars to that to that part so

00:21:41.520 it was almost it was sixteen thousand dollars pretty much and now it's now it's gone up eight

00:21:45.920 hundred dollars more can you think of any programs in this country that might have been better replaced

00:21:54.080 by providing us eight hundred dollars per family to offset that increase to offset that hunger i

00:22:00.320 can think right away that i want to help ukraine all i can but there's a we are going to give only this

00:22:07.760 much to vladimir zelinski in ukraine and then we're going to keep a portion to help our own people

00:22:13.600 with the cost of food we are going to give other countries and other people x amount of dollars to a point

00:22:19.920 and then stop so we have some leftover for our own canadians canada don't let them rephrase hunger

00:22:27.040 with food insecurity it's a watered down way to say people are hungry in your own country sorry jim

00:22:33.840 i just wanted that no mike and i i don't think we can thank canadians enough from coast to coast no

00:22:40.000 matter what your situation as we get into thanksgiving they're going out of their way to do something to

00:22:46.080 help their neighbor i i mean that's that's canadian to the core now call your local mp and say that we

00:22:52.000 want our government to switch some funding over to feed us for goodness sake we're hungry kids can't 0.76

00:22:57.520 keep going to school without breakfast single parents can't keep going to bed hungry so they 1.00

00:23:02.800 can feed their kid not in canada not in this country it has to stop you got me worked up no i know

00:23:08.960 and happy thanksgiving and please when you're doing your grocery shopping even one little thing to your

00:23:14.480 local food bank and make a difference we got this

True Patriot Love - October 11, 2025

Why Canada’s Working Class Is Going Hungry

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