presents

Friday December 10, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday December 10, 2021

We’ll all be paying a lot more for food next year, says Canada’s Food Price Report

June 22, 2021

Sky-high food prices were one of many negative impacts that Canadians felt during the pandemic-plagued year of 2021. And a new report suggests that problem is only going to get worse next year.

Canada’s Food Price Report, released today, is an annual report published by Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph that’s the most comprehensive set of data currently available about a subject that all Canadians are impacted by: food.

As with everything else, supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on food prices and availability. Weather events such as the heat dome also didn’t help put food on the table.

“The meat counter was a big deal this year,” said Sylvain Charlebois, the chief researcher on the report and a professor studying food distribution and security at Dalhousie University in Halifax. 

December 8, 2016

“It really pushed food inflation much higher.”

This time last year, the report was forecasting an increase of between three and five per cent for food prices, with a theoretical family of four consisting of one man, one woman, one boy, and one girl, on track to pay about $13,907 to feed themselves in 2021. 

As it turns out, they were only over by $106. The report tabulates that theoretical family ended up spending $13,801 to feed themselves this year.

In the coming year, Charlebois says food price inflation is on track to be higher with a likely increase of between five and seven per cent — or an extra $966 a year for the typical family grocery bill.

“It’s the highest increase that we’re predicting in 12 years, both in terms of dollars and percentage,” Charlebois said. “It’s not going to be easy.”

As usual, different types of food are expected to go up in price at different rates, with dairy and baked goods expected to be comparatively much more pricey, while past culprits like meat and seafood will look comparatively flat. (CBC) 

 

Wednesday November 21, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday November 21, 2018

With no labour deal in sight, Canada Post warns of delivery delays into January

Canada Post says Canadians can expect delays of parcel and mail delivery into 2019 as a result of rotating strikes by its employees.

And it says the worst delays will likely be in southern and southwestern Ontario because of a backlog of hundreds of transport trailers sitting idle at its main Toronto sorting facility.

The Crown corporation has told its commercial customers that it cannot honour its delivery standards for any product because of the prolonged strikes.

The walkouts have created massive backlogs of mail and parcels just days before an expected rush of millions more parcels from Black Friday and Cyber Monday online sales.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today repeated his call for both sides in the dispute to resolve their differences soon.

But he gave no indications that his government is prepared to force postal workers back to their jobs yet, saying only that he wants a deal, and that the government is considering what it can do to put an end to the labour dispute.

“We are, of course, very preoccupied with the fact that Christmas is coming, important shopping days are coming and we need to see a resolution to that,” Trudeau said as he arrived in Ottawa for a meeting with his cabinet.

“As I’ve said many times, all options are on the table,” he added when asked whether he was prepared to table back-to-work legislation.

Canada Post is dealing with a fifth week of rotating strikes by its unionized workers as both sides remain apart on contract negotiations. (Source: CTV News) 

 

Tuesday December 18, 2001

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday December 18, 2001

Open hearts, wallets make merrier season

Poverty: Cry was never louder The huge, free Christmas dinner served to some 3,200 people by the Hamilton’s Good Shepherd Centres is a wonderful event that affirms the values of our community and of the holiday season. 

But the dinner has almost nothing to do with feeding the poor. As greatly as the meal is appreciated and enjoyed, as much hard work and volunteer effort that goes into it, a bellyful of turkey on Sunday afternoon does little to ease the pangs of hunger mid-week when the cupboards are empty. 

A Christmas dinner such as this is less about the food and more about the meal shared with others. It has more in common with a church’s potluck meal than with shelters and food banks. A communal meal is about feeding the soul, not the stomach. 

Poverty isolates its victims, cutting them off from the so-called mainstream. A Christmas dinner such as this is, for many people in need, a rare time to feel part of a larger community. The weariness of living hand to mouth is assuaged, we can only hope, by sharing a meal with others who also share similar circumstances. 

Humans are social animals, and there is little that brings us into more intimate contact with others than breaking bread with them. For the most marginalized in our society — the homeless, the runaways, the mentally ill — a shared meal may be a bright spot in the bleakness of winter on the streets. (Hamilton Spectator)