Canada’s ‘Grocery Rebate’ Doesn’t Deal With Underlying Affordability Problems: Expert

Canadians who are eligible for the GST credit are expected to receive a one-time payment to help with the rising cost of groceries, but the head of a major food bank says it won’t address the deeper issues.

“We’re seeing unprecedented numbers,” Rachael Wilson, CEO of the Ottawa Food Bank, told CTV News Channel on Wednesday. “We’re seeing those numbers right across the country.”

The Canada Revenue Agency thinks that around 11 million Canadians will receive the additional money alongside their regular GST rebate.

However, Wilson says that although the payment is welcome, it’s too small to make anything other than a “very short term” difference as the cost of living continues to become “untenable” for many across the country.

She also warned that social assistance rates have not kept pace with years of inflation, putting additional pressures on Canadians and furthering a cost of living crisis, by extension putting new burdens on food banks across the country.

“We really don’t think that there is much more that our network can take,” Wilson says. “We’re giving more food than we ever have before.”