N.S. families grappling with high costs question government support thresholds

As each month goes by, Jason Crawley and his wife, Sharalene, watch the money in their bank account dwindle as their bills increase.

Crawley is a bookkeeper studying to be a chartered accountant. He keeps a detailed budget, but he says the couple is struggling.

They spend almost half their monthly income on their one-bedroom apartment in Halifax. Their grocery bill has almost doubled in the last seven months.

Crawley says inflation, which reached a 39-year high of 8.1 per cent earlier this year, means their income isn't sufficient.

"The bottom line with inflation is that my bookkeeping wage or my wife's [licensed practical nurse] wage is not going up, but costs are, and we're getting strapped," Crawley said. "There's nothing we can do about it."

The Crawleys are part of a growing class of people who are struggling financially, but can't access government support. 

Ineligible for government support

The couple says the problem is their gross income is too high, but their net income is $36,000 per year.

Crawley said they're ineligible for things like housing rebates, augmented GST and other tax credits, income assistance and other programs. For the first time, his family has had to turn to charities for help to make it to the end of the month. 

"We're in a section of middle-class people, and there's a lot of us, where we make too much gross ... that we don't get access to any of these extra supports," he said. "And we're really struggling."

Christine Saulnier, Nova Scotia director for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said she is seeing more families fall into this category.

"There are a couple of issues that would impact somebody in that situation," Saulnier said.

"Inflation is one of the issues, but when we think about government programs, in particular income supports in Nova Scotia, none of them are actually tied to inflation and ... the income thresholds for when income supports phase out are quite low."

Unlike most provinces, Nova Scotia's income supports are not indexed to inflation, so they don't rise as costs rise. Saulnier said this is a problem.

"At the end of the day, what we're seeing is people's ability to purchase whatever it might be, food, rent is less than it was a year ago because of inflationary pressures," she said.

"And, if that's the case, then we do need both government to decide that they need to be adjusting their income supports in order to support people, but also that employment income needs to go up."

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the income threshold required to access government supports also needs to be raised. 

"We absolutely have to look at the current income thresholds and criteria that are being applied to things like home assistance grants and other levels of government support because the money people are making now is worth less than it was," Churchill said. "So those thresholds certainly need to be re-examined and adjusted in light of inflation."

As Canada's official inflation rate slowed from July to September, food prices have continued to climb. The Crawleys say this is the biggest financial pressure they're facing.

They shop for bargains, cut out more expensive food and skip meals altogether. 

"The last time we went grocery shopping on our $150 budget, our groceries came to $254.00. Something had to go. We ended up not having meat that week, it was just too expensive," Crawley said.

Crawley volunteers at the Souls Harbour Rescue Mission in Halifax. He had to make the difficult decision this year to start using the mission's services.

"We've always been in a lower income, but it's very, very humbling where I can go up to chef Ryan at Souls Harbour and say, 'I hate to ask you, but I need a bowl of soup, too, because I can't afford groceries.'"

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the government should be stepping in so families don't require stop-gap measures.

"When I talk to the folks who are running a soup kitchen or a community food centre, what they say is it used to be people who were just struggling to find a place to live that would access their services," Chender said. "Now it's the mom in the minivan, who just can't pay for groceries for her kids."

Saulnier said raising the income threshold would mean extra costs for the provincial government, but she said her research shows it can be done.

"The fiscal capacity of the Nova Scotia government, they've actually benefited from the inflationary pressures.... Let's share that revenue and make sure that people aren't struggling."

Government response

Minister of Community Services Karla MacFarlane said Thursday that she knows Nova Scotians "have it tough right now". She said her government is trying to work on the programs that can help the most people. 

She pointed to things like the seniors care grant, increased rent supplements and increased child tax benefit. 

When asked if the province is considering indexing supports with inflation, MacFarlane wouldn't say.

"If there's anyone out there that needs extra help, please, please call your caseworker, we will work with you and try to do the very best we can to help you through this challenging time."