Welfare shopping woes

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by Craig Segal

It's getting tougher to be a shrewd-shopping welfare mother in Quebec. It used to be crafty welfare recipients could buy groceries in bulk when they received their cheques the first week of the month. They'd put their cash in a pool and load up on staples like ground beef, carrots and onions at stores offering the premium specials. Then they'd cruise home and cook up a big pot of zesty tomato sauce to last them several weeks. But for several years now customers have complained that grocery specials were falling at odd times of the month, making it harder to pack their pantries on welfare week.

A new study by four poverty groups confirms their suspicions. Quebec welfare and pension recipients are getting creamed on their monthly grocery bills at big name stores like IGA and Metro. "We found over the past four years that specials during the week of the welfare cheque are often the least economical of the month and rarely the most economical," says Jocelyne Leduc Gouvin, coordinator of the Club populaire des consommateurs de Pointe St-Charles. The group awarded a special lemon prize to IGA for never having the best specials on welfare week and twice having the worst specials.

The group recently deposited their study with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. If the Commission sides with the study, they may sue the stores at the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal. IGA refused to comment.