Poverty Reduction Politics and Food Insecurity: Better for High-Risk Groups?

Canada's higher-level governments have, at least rhetorically, prioritized poverty reduction since the early 2000s. This article investigates whether this political prioritization has reduced food insecurity among high-risk households, namely couples with children, single persons, single parents, and households relying largely on government transfers. Using the Canadian Community Health Survey (2005–2018), we study the association between household composition and the household's main source of income with respect to (severe) food insecurity, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and local circumstances. Despite apparent income poverty gains among some high-risk groups documented elsewhere, we find that the disadvantages of food insecurity among high-risk households did not change in Canada or in its four largest provinces. Furthermore, Quebec stands out as a jurisdiction in which, compared with couples without children, couples with children face negligible disadvantages, and single-parent families have the lowest disadvantage. Quebec singles, however, face a disadvantage that is comparable with that of other provinces.