As Canadians discuss whether the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit is sufficient, a newly announced government strategy is flying under the radar.
The federal government is planning a new National Food Security Strategy, announced alongside the upped GST rebate, to increase and improve domestic food production.
Amidst a debate over rising food costs, Minister for Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu credits climate change as an overlooked cause of food inflation.
“The drought out west meant that farmers had to reduce the size of their herds. Coffee is produced in regions that are under extreme drought. An avian flu has meant that many herds have had to be culled,” she says.
But Hajdu also acknowledges that declining competition and increased consolidation of Canada’s grocery industry are complicating the fight for cheaper food, and making it more difficult for farmers to find buyers for their products.
She says the strategy will include “measures to implement things like unit price labelling, and support the work of the Competition Bureau to monitor and enforce competition in the market.”
Hajdu also frames the food security strategy as a move to protect Canadian sovereignty: “How can we do a better job making sure that we can grow the food that we need here in Canada, and that we actually sell around the world to feed hungry populations in all sorts of countries?”
Alongside the new strategy is greater relief for Canadian food banks with a $20 million Local Food Infrastructure Fund. “Food banks have been saying they need a better infrastructure nationally,” Hajdu explains.
But a national strategy for food security could take years to fully implement, and a growing number of Canadians need relief for rising food costs in the meantime — hence the GST rebates.
“It’s not meant to pay for a person’s entire year’s worth of groceries. What it’s meant to do is address the inflation that people are experiencing in the price of the food,” Hajdu offers.
