Albertans struggling to manage debt as prices of food, gas and utility bills rise: expert

The rising cost of staples like food, gasoline and utility bills is taking a toll on Albertans and affecting their ability to manage debt, according to a financial educator.

The Credit Counselling Society, a non-profit credit counselling organization, has seen an increase in people having trouble managing debt since around fall 2021.

“Some people do live beyond their means but the vast majority of people we see at the Credit Counselling Society are people who have run into a major issue,” said Mark Kalinowski, a financial educator at the organization. “With the pandemic we’ve seen people who’ve been sick, who’ve had to take time off to look after loved ones, people who’ve lost income. Those are the people who’ve really struggled during the pandemic.

“What we’re seeing now is that people are struggling to get back on their feet and they’re really being hampered by the increased cost of things.”

In February, Canada’s annual rate of inflation climbed to 5.7 per cent, the highest level since August 1991.

• Annual inflation rate hit 5.7 per cent in February amid broad-based price increases: StatCan

“Prior to anyone speaking about inflation, we knew certain items like our egg bills were coming in a little higher than traditional invoices in the past,” said Tamisan Bencz-Knight, the manager of strategic relationships with Edmonton's Food Bank. “As we move forward, it’s definitely impacting us as an organization… but then there’s also the people that we’re serving that’ll be impacted.

“People who are just making it, not needing the support of the food bank might need us now because of those increases.”

The food bank saw a decrease in people who needed its services at the start of 2020 as the pandemic changed how people lived and spent their money. Since then, the food bank’s client base rose in 2021 and is still growing in 2022, serving more than 25,000 Edmontonians right now.

“We’re very fortunate and humbled that Edmontonians continue to help us do our work so we’re doing OK, but now we’re fast forwarding six months to a year, where will we be sitting as an organization?” said Bencz-Knight. “We have over 300 different groups in Edmonton relying on us for food support.

“This is where we need to have bigger conversations, that hunger is a symptom of poverty, food insecurity is a symptom of poverty.”

In addition to the cost of food affecting the food bank, gas is also a worry. The organization clocked over 182,000 kilometres on the road between picking up donations and delivering food in 2021.

“I anticipate the next year, two, three years is going to be very, very busy, not just in Alberta, but across Canada,” said Kalinowski.

“It sounds scary, but ultimately now’s the time we can get our finances in order before those interest rates really go up on those things like mortgages, things like lines of credit and credit cards. If you need help, go seek out help from your bank, credit union or a non-profit credit counselling organization.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jessica Robb