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.