Some Sobering facts from Toronto and across the country about the harsh reality of Canadians

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

I received an email from Sam Lilly, Press Secretary for the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition, addressing the current state of Canada. In his message, Lilly attributed the nation’s economic challenges to the punishing carbon tax and inflationary spending policies of Jagmeet Singh and Justin Trudeau. While I recognize that politicians often have their own agendas, the details shared in this email are crucial for our community and country to consider.

Since the NDP-Liberal coalition started their radical agenda, food bank usage has surged 150% and food prices have spiked 12%. According to Food Banks Canada, over two millions visits to a food bank were recorded in one month alone:

• 642,257 times in one month, a child visited one of Canada’s food banks
• 33% of food bank visits are children
• 32% increase in visits in one year between 2022 and 2023
• 79% increase in visits between 2019 and 2023
• 681,292 visits were recorded in Ontario.

According to the 2023 Who’s Hungry Report, in the past year, there have been 2.53 million food bank visits in Toronto, a 51% increase year over-year, and the highest annual increase ever reported. If usage rates continue, we will exceed three million visits by the end of the year. The report also draws light to the fact that:

• 1 in 10 people in Toronto are now relying on food banks, twice as many as the year prior.
• Over 120,000 new individuals started using food bank services for the first time this past year – a 154% increase compared to the previous year.
• Nearly 1 in 3 (31%) food bank clients went a whole day without eating and more than half (55%) of food bank clients missed a meal to pay for something else.

According to the RBC Housing Affordability Report it now takes 63.5% of income to buy an average priced home compared to 2015 when the same measure was 39.3%. According to Rentals.ca, asking rents for all residential property types in Canada have reached an average of $2,185 in June. The average price for a two-bedroom apartment has reached $2,338. According to the CMHC, the average monthly rent for a 2-bedroom apartment across Canada’s 35 major centers was just $966 in October 2015. The average price for a two-bedroom unit has reached $3,199 in Toronto. According to Rentseeker.ca, the average two-bedroom asking rent was $1,288 in the Fall of 2015.

In Toronto, a household earning a median income needed to spend 84.8% of their income to cover the costs of owning an average home at market price. This metric has “Reached its worst level ever.” According to National Bank, it now takes 25 years to save for a downpayment in Toronto. The mortgage payment as % of income is 87.8% in Toronto.

At the end of 2023 Gord Tanner, the city’s director of homelessness initiatives shares “As of October, Toronto is sheltering 10,700 people and turning away approximately 275 others on a daily basis. There is a growing number of homeless people turning to ERs for shelter and warmth in Ontario. In Toronto hospitals specifically, those cold-weather ER visits by homeless people skyrocketed by 68%. City data shows the number of tents in ravines, parks and under bridges is more than double last spring’s count.”

Why does it seem that regardless of the promises that we continue to get from our government, life in Canada continues to get harder and harder. It is time that we as citizens start asking some real questions.