Evidence of the Association between Household Food Insecurity and Heating Cost Inflation in Canada, 1998-2001

We investigated the 5.3 percentage point increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in Canada between the National Population Health Survey of 1998-99 and the Canadian Community Health Survey of 2000-01. We found that the increase in food insecurity occurred disproportionately in households in the western provinces, particularly Alberta, and among homeowners rather than renters. Inter-provincial variation in heating cost inflation explained as much as 61 percent of the inter-provincial variation in food insecurity increases between 1998 and 2001.