Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has called on Canadians to cancel streaming services like Disney+ in order to help ease the burden of inflation, a statement that has been criticised by conservatives.
Freeland, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal cabinet, suggested that Canadians save money by cancelling streaming services, noting that she had personally ended her $13.99-a-month subscription.
“I think Canadian families are looking closely at all of their expenses. I, personally, as a mother and wife, look carefully at my credit card bill once a month and last Sunday I said to the kids, ‘you’re older now, you don’t watch Disney anymore. Let’s cut that Disney plus subscription.’ So we cut it,” Freeland said,” CityNews reports.
“It’s only 13.99 a month that we are saving but every little bit helps and I think every mother in Canada is doing that right now,” she added.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the head of the United Conservative Party (UCP), slammed Freeland’s statement saying, “Unreal…Instead of pausing the carbon tax, OR stopping the money printing, OR promoting affordable energy, The Liberal-NDP coalition is telling moms they can solve the rising inflation by cutting Disney Plus…”
Freeland’s comments come as inflation has soared in Canada in recent months, particularly food prices, which climbed to a 41-year high in September, as prices of some products have risen by nearly 18 per cent.
As winter approaches, Canada could see further price increases on food as much of the country’s food will be imported from the United States as the Canadian dollar has slumped against its American counterpart.
“I don’t think we’re done this year with increases,” Dr Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, told broadcaster CTV last month.
In June, the CBC reported that nearly a quarter of Canadians were going hungry due to rising food prices between March of 2020 and 2022.
Meanwhile, Canadian food bank usage has hit an all-time high, with around 1.5 million people visiting food banks in March of this year, up 35 per cent from before the Chinese coronavirus in March of 2019.
“What we are seeing is the combination of long-term effects to a broken social safety net combined with the effects of inflation and high costs driving more people to use food banks than ever before in Canadian history,” Kirstin Beardsley, the CEO of Food Banks Canada said.
“Behind each one of these numbers is a person who is struggling too much to get by,” Beardsley said and added, “We have got people like seniors, who have been able to afford to live, suddenly having to turn to the food bank for the first time in their lives because it doesn’t all add up.”
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.
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