Thank you, Mr. Chair.
While we have just a little more time here, I would like to give verbal notice of the following motion:
Given that, a recent report from the Salvation Army indicates that:
1. nearly a third of Canadians continue to feel pessimistic about the future of their personal finances; 2. one in four Canadians continue to be extremely concerned about having enough income to cover their basic needs; 3. Canadians’ extreme concerns about the cost of living continue and are not subsiding; 4. about one in 10 Canadians continue to be extremely concerned about basic human needs, such as shelter and food, or being affected by a natural disaster or emergency; 5. mental and physical wellbeing continue to be an extreme concern among roughly one in three Canadians, as is being able to afford activities they want to do; 6. three in four Canadians continue to face food security challenges, with nominal upward trends. This wave, more have skipped or reduced the size of at least one meal because they couldn’t afford groceries; 7. among those who accessed a food bank in the last year, over half (61%) were first-time users; 8. nearly one in three Canadians faced challenges managing limited financial resources in the past year, with nominal upward trends across all challenges; 9. over half of Canadians faced issues impacting their health, increasing Canadians’ deprioritization of medical expenses due to costs; 10. the number of Canadians facing housing security challenges has increased, with more needing to move in with family because they can’t afford housing or were living in unsuitable housing conditions; 11. and while many feel they can meet their financial needs in the next 12 months, over three-quarters are stressed out about the increase of the cost of living; that the committee recognize and report to the House that Canada is facing a rapidly worsening affordability, housing, and food insecurity crisis and, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a),
that the committee invite the Minister of Finance and officials, as well as representatives from the Salvation Army to appear before the committee to testify in relation to these findings, as soon as possible, for no less than two hours each, and that the committee find additional resources if necessary to facilitate this meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am giving verbal notice that I will be bringing this forward. In particular, considering that today we were talking about food costs and food insecurity and how families are struggling to afford to feed themselves, I think this is really appropriate at this time. The numbers and the comments that came out of the report from the Salvation Army were quite shocking.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.