Many Quebecers who have had to tighten their belts for months because of inflation will have to settle for a more restrained holiday season, unable to afford to spoil their loved ones with many Christmas gifts or large dinners.
“I would really like to be a good Santa Claus, but I have the impression that I will have to tell my oldest that it is not something that exists for real because we will not be able to give as we would have liked”, laments Fannie Bittner-Dumas, who peels the canvas for toys at a discount.
This mother of two children aged 3 and 7 is one of the many people who contacted Le Journal to testify to the anxiety generated by holiday spending.
“We are not people who live in luxury, but we are really on another level of having to cut and spoil the magic a little, because we can’t do it,” says Ms. Bittner-Dumas.
not purchasable
Even with a stable income, Quebecers have to go out of their way to make ends meet.
“It’s the holiday season, but it’s everyday life too. I go to food banks because food can no longer be bought,” says Claudie Paquette, who lives in Saint-Lambert, on the South Shore of Montreal.
The scholarship to which she is entitled by following her accelerated training as a practical nurse is not enough to afford any excess.
Previously, gifts, “I gave them to each member of my family: my father, my mother, my sister, my brother-in-law, my daughter, her boyfriend, my niece,” adds Ms. Paquette, formerly a beneficiary attendant.
Anne Huet, mother of a 19-year-old who is used to juggling two or three jobs to pay her bills, is at her wit’s end. His income is swallowed up by his rent and groceries.
“It’s really not normal, slice the 47-year-old woman. We find ways to create little pleasures, like going for a walk in the park [Michel-Chartrand] in Longueuil. »
Slight reprieve
Quebecers interviewed by Le Journal do not hide it: the check for $400 to $600 promised to the population by the government of François Legault will do good.
But this money will quickly disappear to pay more urgent debts, such as electricity or an amount borrowed from a relative.
“It’s like a plaster on a little boo,” summarizes France Dubois, who lives on less than $15,000 annually and does not know if she will be able to receive her three children and four grandchildren for dinner.
- This year, Opération Père Noël could donate gifts to 24,000 underprivileged Quebec children. That’s 3,000 more than last year, reported The newspaper at the end of November.