Several local Québec food aid organizations felt ignored when they learned of the budget announced Tuesday by Québec’s finance minister.
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“It’s a shot in the dark,” notes Moisson Québec communications director Élisabeth Fortin. The aid amounts announced are far from what we need on the ground.
For example, the government has decided to give food banks in Quebec $2 million a year to buy groceries, even though they asked for $24 million.
“We’re going to have to stretch over a year what it’s costing us every month, it’s unfortunate. Demand is constantly increasing with inflation and we will not have more funds to buy groceries,” Ms. Fortin continues, recalling that the number of people the organization helps each month has doubled in the last three years .
The organization also believes that the tax cuts announced by the Quebec government will only “worse” the situation for the municipal sector. Instead of “benefiting the wealthiest in the majority”, the tax cuts “could have served to strengthen the social safety net”.
“It’s nothing, $24 million for organizations that help people meet their basic needs compared to the money that doesn’t go to the state because of these tax credits,” argues Elisabeth Fortin.
ends of candles
It’s even worse for independent community organizations like Pignon Bleu or Amélie et Frédérick, Service d’entraide. They are only “entitled to crumbs” or a portion of the discretionary envelope of the Capitale-Nationale MPs.
Roseline Roussel , executive director of Pignon Bleu , and Diane Dion , president of Amélie et Frédérick , agree that they were disappointed not to hear a word about food aid at the provincial budget unveiling .
“With what has been said in the media over the past few days about young people’s diet, you would have thought that the government would take the opportunity to talk about it,” stresses Ms Roussel.
For her part, Diane Dion does not approve of the government’s decision to pay large sums of money to certain organizations “even though their mission is most commendable”.
“It is good to invest in health and in supportive relationships, but all of these services are linked to food aid. When people have an empty stomach, they will look more from other areas,” she says.
Although pleased with the mission’s increased funding being given to the community sector, Pignon Bleu’s executive director claims that the recurring lack of financial support is making the organizations’ task more difficult.
“We need to maximize donations to provide food security to those who call us. More than 40% of our requests for help come from workers who can no longer afford to go to the grocery store because the cost of the basket is exorbitant and the number of them is increasing.