MacLean's: 'Anyone who has taken a trip to the grocery store recently has experienced a heavier hit to their wallet than usual. Eggs that rang in at $5.86; 500 grams of extra lean ground beef at $8.80; a loaf of bread for $3.61; a $7.25 bundle of asparagus and a carton of milk at $4.55 all reflect rapid escalation in food prices over the past few months, with a five to seven per cent price hike forecast in 2022.
'This, paired with generally stagnant wages and overall inflation at a 30-year high, has many anxious about how they will feed their families. But for more than five million Canadians already grappling with food insecurity, it’s a bleak reality that could lead to greater reliance on food banks, thrusting them farther to the margins of society.
'Food insecurity is a growing problem and one that experts claim should be addressed through policy intervention. It would be reasonable to assume, then, that the issue is top of mind for a recently elected federal government. But the latest batch of so-called “mandate letters” to federal ministers, in which the Prime Minister identifies policy priorities he’d like them to pursue, makes no mention of tackling hunger or food affordability...'