Windsor shoppers welcome word of 'grocery rebate'
Word Tuesday’s federal budget will include a one-time “grocery rebate” for low-income Canadians is welcome news for shoppers outside Windsor grocery stores.
“I think that would be an awesome thing,” says Pat Hayden, who left the store Monday with a half-dozen bags of groceries.
“They should give them a break.”
Hayden says on more than one occasion she’s left the supermarket “with a headache” brought on by sticker shock — and she’s not alone.
“I probably spent about 70 or 80 dollars and I really didn’t have much to show for it,” says Jane Buttery.
High food costs and the high cost of living overall are driving more people to food banks.
June Muir, president of the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association, says they saw 8,000 new clients in 2022.
“I really have never seen it like this before,” she says.
Muir says they’re more frequently helping those you might not expect to see at a food bank.
Seniors, post-secondary students and even people with full-time jobs who have nothing left after paying the bills.
“I’m hoping that this budget tomorrow is going to help those who truly need it,” Muir says.
Canadian food analyst Sylvain Charlebois, with Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, agrees the grocery rebate is a positive thing… in theory.
“On one hand, it’s a targeted policy, which is really desirable. On the other hand, it’s very little and you basically have to hope that people will use it for food,” he says.
Charlebois says it might be a better idea for Canada to look into a program like food stamps in the United States.
“You basically get people to buy desirable food products — fruit, vegetable, meat products, healthy products,” he says.
However, he says, that program took years to assemble in the U.S.
The federal government will unveil its budget Tuesday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.