NSNDP

October 21st, 2022

Houston says food banks are solution for families struggling with cost of groceries

Halifax — Tim Houston says the best his government can do for the thousands of families across the province struggling with the skyrocketing cost of food is to send them to food banks for help.

Food Price Facts:

  • Since this time last year, the cost of food has gone up 10.5 percent.
  • In 8 months time, bread is up by a dollar, milk by $2.50, and chicken is over $7 more.
  • Across the country the price of food at major grocery chains has increased 11.4 per cent. That's the fastest increase in grocery bills in 40 years.

“People are pinching pennies, going without groceries or activities, and are using credit cards to pay for the basics,” said NDP Leader Claudia Chender. “This is hurting people across the province. Working families who, a year ago, were able to get by on what they got paid now find themselves coming up short at the end of the month. When asked what his government would do to help, the Premier said he is investing in food banks. It just shows how out of touch this government is with people’s real problems. They have tools to help and they refuse to use them.”

In June, Nick Jennery, Executive Director of Feed Nova Scotia said public policy needs to change to fix this problem telling CityNews Halifax:

“We cannot fix this thing by trying to put out more food there. We need public policy that says how do we allow people to have access to the foods that they need when they need it. The current system is not going to be the solution.”

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