Food inequality issue starving for an answer

Re: Food insecurity in Canada at a crisis stage, April 29

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor specializing in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, has written extensively about the disparity in the ability of Canadians to feed themselves. He points out that Canada’s economic disparities have widened in the four years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The short-lived Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) provided some relief but when it ended, the 20 per cent of households with the lowest income were spending 21.3 per cent of their income on food. In stark contrast, the top 20 per cent in 2023 spent only five per cent of their income on food.

In other words, the poorest Canadians spend four times as much of their incomes on food.

This disparity, Charlebois explains, is also a result of stagnant wages, ineffective social programs and an unfair tax system. This results in economically disadvantaged people devoting an excessive portion of their limited resources to meeting basics needs such as food, housing and medical care.

Charlebois states, despite years of expansive government spending, the root causes of this inequality have not been addressed. Policy interventions such as a guaranteed minimum income, subsidies and tax incentives could help insure incomes rise in line with the increasing cost of living. In other words, a policy is needed that focuses not only on the GDP but on the well-being and security of all Canadians.

Sadly, if the present minority Liberal/NPD alliance cannot develop these policies, what are the chances of a right wing Pierre Poilievreled Conservative majority doing it?

Richard Murri, Niagara Falls