Montrealers Grapple With Food Insecurity as Prices Increase

Montreal food banks are noticing more Montrealers are seeking their support as inflation continues to affect grocery prices. Inflation is almost at 10%, as a result of supply chain issues due to the war in Ukraine, labour shortages from the pandemic – these factors are driving up the cost of living.

Sylvain Charlebois, the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University said food security is compromised when the inflation rate reaches 10% shockers. As a result, Charlebois said consumers must recalibrate their budget and make compromises. He said he's noticed consumers going to other stores, such as the dollar store – citing that this store has had sales increase by 18% since March.

80% of Canadians think grocery stores are taking advantage of inflation – by raising prices for their own profits, but Charlebois said the data doesn't support the theory that stores are profiting off of food distribution.

Can we expect grocery prices to continue to increase?

Charlebois said if we were to use an analogy to describe inflationary cycle, it's like a baseball game, "We’re probably in the seventh inning stretch, we're not out of the woods but starting to see calmer waters," he said.

Charlebois cited that dairy prices in Quebec have gone up twice this year. In February, The Canadian Dairy Commission’s (CDC) approved a price increase of 8%. Recently, on September 1, another increase was approved by the CDC by 2.5%.

Charlebois said the price of butter has increased by 24% compared to last year.

"We’re expected to end year at a 7% inflation rate," he said.