Poverty Rates to Rise This Spring Due to Ongoing Food Inflation: Report

As the cost of food creeps ever higher, so too will Canada’s poverty rate, according to the country’s Department of Social Development. Ongoing food inflation will rise 14 percent or more this year, which will not only push up the price of pantry staples like peanut butter but will elevate the country’s poverty rate by spring, says a department briefing note obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter. “As food prices increase poverty thresholds are likely to follow,” the November note, entitled Food Insecurity, reads. “This could impact poverty rates in Canada in the coming years. The impact of high inflation will be reflected in poverty statistics for 2022 expected to be released in the spring of 2024.”...