Ten million Canadians live in food-insecure households. The federal budget doesn’t help them
The November budget fails to address Canada’s record-high food insecurity, which now affects about 10 million people, writes Tim Li, research program co-ordinator of PROOF, a program studying effective policy interventions for household food insecurity in Canada at the University of Toronto. The budget’s highlighted affordability measures do not meaningfully increase household income. Initiatives like automatic tax filing, school food programs and temporary discounts are insufficient, while existing income supports such as the Canada Child Benefit and Employment Insurance are too small, poorly designed, or temporary to reduce food insecurity. Real progress, Li says, requires sustained reforms that strengthen and modernize income supports for low- and modest-income households, making food security a central pillar of economic policy.
