According to the Food Professor, or Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, an agri-food professor who operates a lab out of Dalhousie University, Canada’s chicken prices could soar to record levels in September if the feds don’t do something about it.
“Homelessness & Affordability Crisis”
In this Canadian city, rent gobbles up 95% of a full-time, minimum-wage earner’s working hours
Rents in Canada are so high that minimum-wage earners have to allocate much of their full-time work hours to cover the average cost an apartment, thereby jeopardizing their push for financial independence, according to a new report by Zoocasa Realty Inc.
“Financial independence and stable housing have long been seen as markers of adulthood, but for many young Canadians, these milestones are slipping out of reach,” the report released on Aug. 10 said.
Consumer insolvencies climbed in second quarter, putting Canada on track to top worst-ever year in 2009
Canadians continued to file for insolvency in the second quarter at levels not seen in more than a decade as the housing market slump and rising costs caught up with consumers, according to the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy.
OSB data released on Monday shows 37,523 Canadian consumers filed for insolvency in the second quarter – a 6.9-per-cent increase compared to the same period last year, and the highest quarterly volume since 2009. There were 402 more insolvencies during Q2 as compared to the first quarter of the year. The increase marked two consecutive quarters above 2009 levels; that was the all-time highest full year for consumer insolvency filings.
Tenant advocates push back on Carney’s plan for thousands of Toronto rentals
A group of Toronto tenants gathered at a local park to welcome new members to their group, called Toronto Tenants Union, which only formed in April with a mandate to protect renters, especially low-income earners, and inform them of their rights.
Their latest push is against recently announced federal loans granted to private developers.
“It’s very problematic because it’s just a bailout for the private developers who led us into this housing crisis in the first place,” said Bruno Dobrusin, co-chair of the Toronto Tenants Union, in an interview with CTV News.
One unselective meteor is all I ask.
DOYLE: Can Canadians still afford an ordinary Canadian life?
For more than four decades, I have sat across the table from financially distressed Canadians. For most of that time, the people who came through our doors had a debt problem. Something had gone wrong. A divorce, an illness, a layoff, a stretch of poor decisions. We could usually name the event that put them in the chair.
That is changing. More and more of the people we meet cannot point to an event at all. Nothing went wrong. Their budget simply no longer works.
GUNTER: New groceries benefit can drive up prices for consumers
Last January, the federal government introduced the Canadian Groceries and Essentials Benefit. It replaced the GST/HST benefit for an estimated 12 million lower-income Canadians. The Carney government also raised the payments by 25 per cent.
Of course, it hasn’t lowered the cost of groceries. At most, it has given low-income consumers more money to buy groceries. That’s not the same thing and Canadians know it.
Rising cost of low-end rental units driving increase in homelessness, report shows
Homelessness is growing the fastest in Canadian communities where rental prices have spiked and vacancy rates have tightened for low-cost rental units, according to a first-of-its-kind national analysis.
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, in a study to be published Thursday, proved a clear relationship between regional rates of homelessness and housing affordability. It helps explain why homelessness has surged in Canada since 2018 and why certain communities have seen a sharper increase than others.
Carney pledges $2.7B for new affordable housing measures in Toronto
The federal government is pledging $2.7 billion to build more than 18 housing projects across the city of Toronto, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Wednesday.
The plan includes 5,600 rental homes, 1,800 of which will be “deeply affordable,” supportive or rent-controlled, according to Carney. He said 4,500 new homes will be under construction by year’s end.
He said the projects will take place in neighbourhoods hardest hit by rising rent and evictions, and will include a 16-story complex in Parkdale and another in Scarborough at 158 Borough Drive.
Building Gang Banger slums.
CHARLEBOIS: Supply management meant to save Canadian dairy is now holding it back
On Aug. 19, the United States is expected to impose a 50% tariff on selected Canadian dairy products. Predictably, Ottawa will denounce Donald Trump and portray any discussion about reforming supply management as capitulation. That would be a mistake. The tariffs do not cover all dairy exports. Cheese, butter, yogurt and conventional milk are generally excluded. They primarily target ingredients such as whey, milk powders, lactose, casein and milk-protein concentrates.
Federal survey finds rising food prices force Canadians to buy less meat and skip meals
Rising grocery prices are forcing many Canadians to cut back on meat and fresh food, while one in five say they have skipped meals over the past six months, according to new research commissioned by the federal Department of Agriculture.
Blacklock’s Reporter says the survey found food affordability has become the dominant concern for Canadian shoppers, with most respondents saying inflation has fundamentally changed how they buy groceries.
(Incognito)
Canadian Mortgage Arrears Hit Recession Levels, Reality Is Likely Worse
Even more households are falling behind on their supersized mortgage payments. Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) data shows the mortgage arrears rate climbed in May. Mortgages at least 90 days past due have more than doubled since 2022, pushing the rate just shy of a decade high. New mortgage originations are also failing to offset outflows, already wiping out most of 2020’s low-rate growth.
Canada’s FHSAs were meant to help new home buyers. Instead, they’re largely a $2-billion tax shelter for the rich
It’s enough to make your head spin.
At any given moment recently, a reader could glance at their favourite newspaper and see conflicting headlines about condo prices plummeting, houses loitering for weeks on the market, and potential buyers going to absurd lengths to afford a place to live.
Colour me shocked.
The single biggest household bill draining Canadians’ bank accounts right now
HALIFAX – As the affordability crisis and overall inflation continues to impact Canadians across the country, a new national survey from Narrative Research showed 76 per cent said the cost of food and groceries had the biggest impact on their household finances.
Forty-seven per cent said gas is also a significant financial pressure, followed by mortgage and rent at 33 per cent.
Electricity, household maintenance and repairs, and home heating have also caused high levels of financial anxiety for Canadians.
GUNTER: Tough to stop soaring prices on groceries in Canada
According to Blacklock’s Report, the federal department of agriculture paid for a survey of 3,000 Canadian shoppers and found the typical Canadian family can no longer afford to follow Canada’s Food Guide diet — half of the plate fresh fruits and vegetable, one-quarter whole grains and another quarter protein. (AgCanada suggests mostly plant-based proteins, but that’s a political and ecological fantasy.)
More than 12,000 people sleeping on the street, federal report says
A federal report gives a sense of the homeless count in Canada with 2025’s numbers doubling since the last survey in 2022, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
According to new data from Housing Minister Gregor Robertson’s department, 12,857 people nationwide slept in “unsheltered locations such as streets, alleys, parks, transit stations, abandoned buildings, vehicles, ravines and other outdoor locations.”