A version of this letter was sent to MP Patrick Weiler and MLA Jordan Sturdy, and shared with Pique.
A bit roundabout, but this is actually a wages and housing issue. You might be surprised that our neighbours to the south, both in the U.S. and Mexico, don’t rely on food banks like Canada does. This may seem counterintuitive, with thoughts of Americans slipping through the cracks of a social safety net. However, Americans make better money in general, and pay less for housing (location matters). They also have programs like food stamps and various others, which really do help with food security.
Canada, on the other hand, is tied at the hip with corporate-donated food banks. Go ahead and look at food-bank use in the States versus Canada (I’ll wait) and you will see it’s not that common compared to here.
Canadians are slipping through the cracks. As someone with kids, guess what? I’m likely to use a food bank, even though I have full-time employment. So is anyone on social assistance or on CPP. When CERB was available to out-of-work Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic, it was $2,000/month, but what do retired singles get? Or a disabled person probably paying a minimum of $1,500 a month rent? Do the math.
We need better-paying jobs. I am pretty savvy and grinded hard to find an employer who pays well, but I know tons of parents making far too little in this economy. We also need to increase housing supply, and kill short-term rentals. Minimum wage should be a living income like it was in the ’70s. It should also be tied to inflation. Buying power of wages versus costs in Canada (and the States) has done nothing but drop since the equity markets started to be the most important thing in the economy.
On that note: how is it possible that corporations own houses? We need some government levers to fix supply issues. Municipalities and long-term home owners, you can chip in, too, to stop the red tape and NIMBYism.
It’s a mess out here. Food is expensive and housing is insane. Do something, and do it fast. Don’t spend on food banks—spend on actual programs that will help Canadians get ahead.
