opinion: food affordability is even more challenging for canadians with celiac disease
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grocery prices continue to soar, but if you have celiac disease, that already unaffordable cost can become insurmountable.
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at the start of this year, prime minister mark carney announced an increase to the gst rebate for lower-income earners, specifically to help with the cost of groceries.
“for many canadians, the cost of groceries and everyday essentials has been too high for too long. they need more support now,” he said.
a report from dalhousie university projects that the average family of four will pay $1,000 more in 2026 for the same basket of groceries than 2025 prices. if you have celiac disease and have no choice but to live on a gluten-free diet, that cost increase will more than double.
celiac disease is a chronic medical condition where the body can’t properly process a protein (gluten) found in a variety of grains and related food products, resulting in abdominal conditions, severe fatigue, migraines and neurological damage, anxiety, depression and increased risk of osteoporosis or small bowel cancer.
celiac disease affects about one to two per cent of the population, so there are more than 400,000 canadians living with the condition. the good news is that celiac disease can be managed relatively well by strictly adhering to a gluten-free diet. it’s great that increasingly more varieties of gluten-free foods are becoming available, because food is my medicine. but the bad news is that a gluten-free diet is extremely expensive.
gluten-free foods can cost 150 to 500 per cent more than the same conventional items. for example, a package of gluten-free pasta costs twice the price of the same brand’s regular pasta. an eight-dollar box of cereal rings in at 11 bucks for the gluten-free version. bagels? just like the pasta, twice as much for the same amount–and that’s if they’re on sale!
it’s the same with prepared, takeout or restaurant meals. one of the major pizza chains near my home offers a small gluten-free pizza (the only size available) with three toppings, but at a price that’s higher than their regular large three-topping pizza. pay more, get less.
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at the local submarine sandwich shop, their gluten-free bun is only about three-quarters the size of a regular large sub bun, even though you pay the large size price, plus a surcharge of $3 plus tax for the gluten-free bun.
on an annual basis, a gluten-free diet can cost more than $1,000 more per adult and $600 more per child than a conventional food diet. and this isn’t a fad diet or a lifestyle choice: it’s a medical necessity.
to help with this, the federal government allows people with celiac disease to claim a small percentage of the higher cost of a gluten-free diet as medical expenses on our income tax returns. it’s a nice idea in theory, but in practice, the process is a nightmare.
to apply for the deduction, you not only have to keep track of receipts for every gluten-free food item you purchase, but you must also calculate the price difference compared to the same conventional food item, by weight, in many cases. this price comparison must be done for every single food item–hundreds of which are purchased over the course of a year–each time with receipts needing to be kept for seven years in case the canada revenue agency decides to audit your medical expense claims (an experience i have now had to deal with twice!).
there is a better way to help canadians who must live strictly gluten-free or else get very sick: a simple, flat-rate refundable medical tax deduction for anyone with a documented diagnosis of celiac disease.
celiac canada, the national charitable organization that advocates on behalf of canadians with celiac disease, is calling on ottawa for a simple medical deduction of $1,000 per adult per year.
a recent petition, sponsored by liberal mp sonia sidhu (brampton south), garnered more than 33,000 signatures.
this income tax change is quick and easy in fairness–no folders full of receipts, no complex comparative calculations–just a little help for those of us who have to pay so much more just to eat foods that won’t harm us. this help could be delivered with the stroke of the finance minister’s pen.
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andy carnovale is a career schoolteacher and administrator. he lives in courtice, ont.
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