‘Double whammy’: Food banks, Manitobans still struggling despite slowing inflation

Manitobans continue to struggle with rising prices on the most essential products, despite a drop in overall inflation across the country.

The national rate fell to 2.7 per cent in June from 2.9 per cent in May — rising slightly in Manitoba. But the price of groceries has accelerated for the second month in a row.

Statistics Canada reports grocery prices rose 2.1 per cent year over year in June, up from May’s increase of 1.5 per cent.

Vince Barletta, the CEO of Harvest Manitoba, said these rising costs in food are a lose-lose situation.

“Demand goes up, (during) inflationary times, for our services. And at the same time our costs go up,” he said. “Buying food, we’ll probably spend around $3 million this year purchasing food to supplement what comes in from our donors.”

On top of that, he says paying staff, purchasing fuel for trucks and keeping the lights on all add up.

Even though Manitoba is doing a bit better than other parts of the country, and rates are slowing down, Barletta said Manitobans are still out of breath, trying to keep the pace.

“The reality is people are still hurting. And the reality is that people are on fixed incomes, people are working low-wage jobs, people are on disability benefits. Their incomes have not caught up to these sustained price inflations,” he said.

It’s knocked the wind out of many others, too.

“Volunteers are tired. Organizations are tired. That’s not just true of food banks,” he said. “So many organizations rely on a dwindling number of volunteers and supporters to be able to prop up their work.

“It’s a double whammy. It hurts us on both sides.”

He noted it’s a critical time for Manitobans to continue to support the organization.

“Give what you can. If you can give food, do that. If you can give funds, we appreciate it. You can give your time, that’s important too,” he said.

Barletta said Manitoba Harvest continues to be busy at record highs, with about 22,000 households accessing a food bank somewhere in the province.

He said last month, those numbers dipped a little, which is typical, as there is increased access to seasonal employment over the summer.

2:02 Jagmeet Singh speaking on rising grocery prices in Winnipeg Friday

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