Nearly a quarter of Albertans having a hard time affording groceries: survey

As the cost of food increases, a new survey by Nextdoor and Angus Reid finds that nearly a quarter of Albertans are struggling to afford groceries.

This comes as the latest numbers from Statistics Canada show that grocery price inflation is at its highest level since 2023, and demand on food banks is at an all-time high.

“It’s expensive for me to buy my own food, so maybe I can donate, but not how I like it or like before,” said Calgarian Alejandra.

Another Calgarian, Charmane, says it’s “definitely more expensive just to buy the simplest of things that you need to run your house.”

The survey also shows that only 20 per cent of Albertans have donated to a food bank this holiday season.

As a result, the Calgary Food Bank is seeing record numbers of people needing support this year, but the amount of donations is falling well short of what’s required.

“We’re really caught in this sort of three-way triangle on this issue because we see an increase in need for our support because we have clients coming to us every day because they cannot afford to feed their families,” Calgary Food Bank CEO Melissa From told CityNews.

“We see a decrease in donations from the community because folks are struggling to make ends meet themselves, and then we see an increase in our own costs because we’re purchasing close to $10 million worth of food every year.”

The Calgary Food Bank — which relies entirely on community donations — recently opened a new location downtown to address the growing need. However, food charity and policy leaders across the country who are supporting a national campaign to end food insecurity say making sure Canadians don’t go hungry should not be the responsibility of regular citizens.

“Food banks don’t need to exist in a country like Canada. We have lots of food, we’re a wealthy country,” Matt Noble, organizer of Put Food Banks Out of Business.

“It’s really a government failure, and food banks have been doing our best to pick up the slack where governments have been falling behind.”

They are advocating for a guaranteed livable basic income, and there’s currently a bill in the Senate and the House of Commons in Ottawa to develop a national framework for that.

“At the very least, we shouldn’t allow people to fall below the poverty line. I always say, what’s the point of having a poverty line if it doesn’t help us keep people out of poverty?” Noble said.

At the Calgary Food Bank, From says the fastest growing demographic they are seeing is the working poor.

“I obviously think we should look at all levels of poverty and how we alleviate that. But I would love for the first step for all three levels of government to be looking at those folks who are doing everything right and working hard,” she explained.

“And all three levels of government should be asking themselves: how can we make sure those people have the money they’ve earned in their pockets? What are we doing with our taxation? What are we doing with market controls that is allowing supply and demand to be so off kilter?”

She adds that hunger is not a seasonal issue. The need for support will continue in the new year.