The global landscape is rapidly changing, leaving economies, businesses and workers under a cloud of uncertainty. In response, the Government of Canada is focused on what we can control: building a stronger economy to make life more affordable for Canadians. Affordability pressures-especially those related to food-require immediate support for Canadians.
Today, the Honourable Buckley Belanger, Secretary of State for Rural Development, met with community members in Whitehorse to highlight how the government is working to put more money back in the pockets of those most affected by the rising price of food and to tackle food insecurity across a range of fronts.
On January 26, Prime Minister Carney announced new measures to make groceries and other essentials more affordable for Canadians, including the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, starting in the spring of 2026. It will help more than 12 million low- and modest-income Canadians afford day-to-day essentials, including around 10,000 in the Yukon.
On February 12, legislation passed to deliver the new Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. With the royal assent of Bill C-19, the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit Act, the new benefit will do the following:
- It will provide a one-time top-up payment-to be paid as early as possible this spring and no later than June 2026-equal to a 50% increase in the annual 2025-2026 value of the GST credit. This will deliver $3.1 billion in immediate assistance to individuals and families who currently get the GST credit.
- It will increase the value of the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit by 25% for five years starting in July 2026. This increase will deliver $8.6 billion in additional support over the 2026-2027 to 2030-2031 period, including to 500,000 new individuals and families.
Taken together, these measures will provide up to an additional $402 to a single individual without children, $527 to a couple and $805 to a couple with two children. At these levels, the government will be offsetting grocery cost increases beyond overall inflation since the pandemic.
The government also announced a suite of measures to tackle food insecurity, support producers and strengthen supply chains, including the following:
- It will set aside $500 million from the Strategic Response Fund to help businesses address the costs of supply chain disruptions without passing those costs on to Canadians at the checkout line.
- It will create a $150 million Food Security Fund under the existing Regional Tariff Response Initiative for small and medium-sized enterprises and the organizations that support them.
- It will introduce immediate expensing for greenhouse buildings to lower the cost of food production. This will allow producers to fully write off greenhouses acquired on or after November 4, 2025, and that become available for use before 2030. This measure supports increased domestic supply and investment in food production over the medium term.
- It will provide $20 million to the Local Food Infrastructure Fund to ease immediate pressures with food banks. This will support food banks and other national, regional and local organizations in delivering more nutritious food to families in need.
- It will develop a National Food Security Strategy to tackle the root causes of food insecurity-one that strengthens domestic food production and improves access to affordable, nutritious food. This strategy will also include measures to implement unit price labelling and support the work of the Competition Bureau in monitoring and enforcing competition in the market, including food supply chains.
