This year’s Hunger Report from the Ontario Association of Food Banks shows over 335,000 people use the services offered by food banks every month. The report shows the increasing cost of hydro and living expenses has a direct impact on the lives of people in the province. Over the past 10-years the cost of hydro has doubled while social assistance has remained relatively the same.
Timmins-James Bay MPP Gilles Bisson says some people are worse off now than they were 20-years ago due to cuts to Welfare and ODSP. Bisson says obviously something needs to be done about hydro, but the government is going to have to start thinking about ways to increase CPP, ODSP and other support systems that are currently in place.
Bisson says on the benefits side there needs to be increases so people can keep up with inflation and he adds this is why he’s looking into ways that people along the James Bay coast can grow their own food hydroponically over the winter months. He says in Northern Ontario these impacts could be greater because we have longer and colder winters.
