Cost of eating keeps on rising

Every year, the Northwestern Health Unit calculates the cost of a basic food basket. In 2006, 27 grocery stores across the Kenora-Rainy River districts participated.
The cost of feeding a family of four is $697.65 per month—an increase of more than 17 percent since 1998. In that same period, minimum wage has increased only 8.75 percent and welfare and Ontario Disability support only two percent.
Income has not kept pace with the cost of a nutritious food basket.
“Once people have paid rent or their mortgage, child care, hydro, and other bills, there is not much left for food,” said Jennifer Maki, public health nutritionist with the Northwestern Health Unit.
“The contents of the food basket cost residents of the northwest more than the rest of the province and our average income is less,” she added. “People can’t keep up.
“It’s time for government to step up and support people to meet their basic needs,” Maki stressed.
The Northwestern Health Unit uses the food basket results to lobby government for a living wage, to increase access to affordable housing and quality child care, and to make healthy foods accessible to all.
For more information, contact your local Northwestern Health Unit office or visit www.nwhu.on.ca