Empty Liberal Promises Leave More Canadians Turning to Food Banks Than Ever Before

Ottawa, ON - Sandra Cobena, Conservative Shadow Minister for Treasury Board & The King's Privy Council, issued the following statement on Food Banks Canada's 2026 HungerCount report:

"Food Banks Canada recorded 2.35 million food bank visits in a single month, the highest number ever recorded. That is up nearly 9 per cent from last year and almost 117 per cent since 2019.

"These aren't just numbers. They represent Canadians who are struggling every single day. One-third of food bank clients are children, representing more than 775,000 visits in March alone. This is a whole generation of children watching their parents not be able to have the dignity to put food on their table.

"And it is not just unemployed Canadians turning to food banks. Nearly 18 per cent of food bank users now report employment income as their main source of income, up from 12 per cent in 2019. Twenty-two per cent said low or delayed wages were the main reason they needed a food bank, more than double the share last year.

"Canadians are working, but their paycheques are not keeping up with the cost of everyday life.

"After eleven years of Liberal taxes and inflationary spending, Canadians are paying more while the economy gets weaker. Inflation rose again to 3.1 per cent in September, while the Parliamentary Budget Officer downgraded Canada's economic growth and projects federal debt will continue rising, with interest costs alone reaching $83 billion a year by 2030-31.

"Higher energy costs are making the affordability crisis even worse. Gasoline prices are up 27.8 per cent over the last year, energy prices are up 19 per cent and diesel prices have surged nearly 80 per cent. Liberal fuel taxes and regulations add even more to those costs, including the Clean Fuel Regulations, which the PBO found add up to seven cents per litre to gasoline today.

"When farmers pay more to run their tractors, truckers pay more to move our food and businesses pay more to keep their doors open, those costs are passed along to Canadian families at the grocery store and everywhere else.

"Food banks are seeing the consequences firsthand. Nearly three-quarters reported that rising fuel prices had a moderate or significant impact on demand.

"The pressure has become so severe that food banks themselves are struggling to keep up. More than half were forced to give out less food than usual, while 21 per cent ran out of food before everyone in need could be served. In 2021, those numbers were just 20 per cent and 10 per cent.

"This is what the Liberal affordability crisis looks like: working Canadians relying on food banks, hundreds of thousands of children needing help and food banks themselves running out before everyone can be served.

"Canadians should not have to work hard all month and still wonder whether they can afford to put food on the table.

"Conservatives will continue fighting to save you money. We will lower taxes, cut the cost of fuel and food and leave more money in Canadians' pockets. We will fight to extend the federal fuel tax holiday, remove the GST from gas and diesel, scrap the industrial carbon tax and eliminate the costly Clean Fuel Regulations.

"We will restore the promise that hard work is enough to get ahead and that every Canadian family can afford the basics."