More than one in seven middle-income households in Canada have cut back on basic needs to pay their energy bills this year, a new report claims.
According to the Canadian Social Survey, 16 per cent of families with average earnings have had to scrimp on food and medicine for at least a month to pay for heating or cooling in 2023.
Meanwhile, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of lone-parent families have had to cut back on essentials to pay their energy bills.
Eight per cent of households surveyed said they had had to cut back on the basics of life for three months or more just to cover their energy costs.
The authors of the Canadian Social Survey, which is produced by Statistics Canada, said Canadian homes “need proper heating and cooling systems for individuals and families to live safely and comfortably in their homes.”
They added: “However, in the face of rising energy prices, not all Canadian households are able to adequately heat and cool their dwellings, resulting in possible increased risk of climate-related morbidity and even death.”
The survey found that around one in seven (14 per cent) Canadian households have kept their home at an “unsafe or uncomfortable temperature” for at least one of the last 12 months because of unaffordable energy costs.
Also revealed in the data is that more than a quarter (26 per cent) of households went without air conditioning over the last 12 months.
“The health consequences of unsafe indoor temperatures can be immediate,” the authors noted.
“About two per cent of Canadian households reported that someone in their home needed medical attention because their home was either too hot or too cold. While this situation is relatively rare, it was more prevalent for lower-income households, at 2.6 per cent, compared with the highest income households, at 0.7 per cent.”
The survey’s release comes amid a national debate over the federal carbon tax.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been criticized by premiers across the country after announcing a three-year suspension on the levying of carbon tax on home heating oil.
The move is widely seen as favouring the Atlantic provinces, and has prompted opposition leader Pierre Poilievre to reiterate his call for the federal government to abolish the tax entirely.
Trudeau, however, has said there will “absolutely not” be any further changes to his carbon tax policy.
In British Columbia, Premier David Eby has rejected calls for his government to suspend or abolish the province’s carbon tax.
Opposition leader Kevin Falcon has said he would “immediately” cut the provincial tax, and abolish it entirely if the Conservative Party axed the federal levy.
Earlier this week, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem revealed that abolishing the carbon tax would lead to a 0.6 percentage-point reduction in inflation (from 3.8 per cent to 3.2).
