Liberal MP and Minister for Jobs and Families Patty Hajdu told a federal committee studying Canada’s cost of living that climate change is causing food inflation.
Canada’s food inflation rate reached 6.2 per cent year over year in December 2025, the highest in the G7, according to Statistics Canada’s consumer price index. Grocery store food prices rose 5 per cent, while restaurant food prices increased 8.5 per cent.
“The focus here is on the things that we can control,” Hajdu said in part when questioned by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis at the committee meeting. “There is no doubt that Canadians are feeling the impact of food inflation. Inflation in Canada is directly related to the number of foods that we must import and to the growing challenges of climate change.”
Key drivers of food price increases included coffee, up 30.8 per cent, fresh or frozen beef, up 16.8 per cent, and confectionery, up 14.2 per cent, amid higher import costs, currency weakness and supply pressures, according to a Bank of Canada report released Feb. 4, 2026.
Food prices are 27 per cent higher than in 2020, with the average family of four projected to spend $17,571.79 on food in 2026, up to $994.63 more than in 2025. Food insecurity is affecting one in four households, according to Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab.
The cost-of-living crunch is reflected in soaring demand for food aid. According to Food Banks Canada’s 2025 HungerCount report, nearly 2.2 million visits to food banks were recorded in a single month — the highest number in history — and usage has roughly doubled since 2019 as Canadians struggle with affordability.
Canada’s food inflation rate also outpaced the United States, where food inflation was 2.9 per cent year over year in January 2026, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly half Canada’s rate.