As grocery bills and mortgage payments soar, a retired couple in rural Ontario watches their dream of a peaceful retirement slowly unravel.
For Sharon McArthur, Sunday dinners used to be sacred — a warm roast, laughter echoing around the table, and the joy of having her children and grandchildren close by. But today, those traditions are fading into memory.
“We just can’t afford it anymore,” says the 74-year-old, seated in the modest kitchen of the home she shares with her husband, Wayne Gattinger, 73, in Brooke-Alvinston, Ontario. “It’s hard, but our family gets it. Everyone’s feeling the pinch.”
The couple, both retired after decades of work, had carefully planned for a simple, secure retirement close to their loved ones. Sharon stepped back from the workforce at 67 due to health concerns, while Wayne worked until 72, retiring only after his employer closed shop.
They now live on about $2,800 a month — not much when $600 goes to the mortgage and the rest vanishes into utilities, food, and fuel.
“We did everything right. We saved, we planned,” says Sharon. “But who plans for prices to double or triple in just a few years?”
Retirement Without Comfort
They’ve made deep cuts — selling their second car, keeping the thermostat low in winter, skipping gifts for grandkids. “Christmas used to be our favorite time,” she says quietly. “Now I feel like we’ve let them down.”
But it’s the future that haunts her most. With their mortgage due for renewal next year, Sharon fears a rate hike could push them into homelessness. “We’re paying 2% now. If it jumps to 4%, we’re looking at $300 more a month. That’s money we simply don’t have.”
CIBC data backs up their anxiety. Two-thirds of Canadians are rethinking retirement, and many expect to keep working well past 65. But for people like Sharon and Wayne, that’s not an option anymore.
From Donor to Recipient
Groceries, they say, have become their biggest challenge. “We rarely leave the store without spending $100 or more — and that’s being frugal,” says Sharon. She still cooks from scratch, stretching meals with ground beef, rice, and oatmeal, but it’s getting harder to keep their diet nutritious.
For the first time in their lives, they’ve turned to the local food bank.
“I never thought we’d be on the receiving end,” she admits. “We used to donate. Now we go in humbly, only when we truly need it.”
They’re not alone. According to Food Banks Canada, food bank use among seniors has surged in recent years, with fixed incomes failing to keep up with inflation. Seniors now account for a growing share of clients, many of them living alone and struggling quietly.
The Bigger Picture
Moshe Lander, an economics expert at Concordia University, says the system is showing cracks.
“Seniors on fixed incomes are hit hardest when inflation rises. Their pensions don’t adjust fast enough,” he explains. “And if we don’t rethink retirement policy — like raising the pension age or rebalancing contributions — the whole structure could become unsustainable.”
Wayne believes it’s time for the government to step in.
“Everyone else is getting raises. Why not us?” he asks. “We’ve worked all our lives, paid our taxes, played by the rules. We just want to live with dignity.”
Despite everything, Sharon holds on to gratitude. “We still have each other. We’ve got today. That’s what matters most.”
But as prices climb and the safety net stretches thin, one thing is clear: for many Canadian seniors, retirement no longer means rest — it means resilience.
