report<\/a> by the Competition Bureau Canada found that three largest grocers\u2014Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro\u2014collectively reported more than $100 billion in sales and earned more than $3.6 billion in profits in 2022.<\/p>\nThe Competition Bureau found that food prices in Canada increased faster than general inflation between December 2021 and March 2023 and that profit margins increased by one or two percentage points since 2017, with the increase starting before both the Covid pandemic and the current inflationary period. The Bureau called it a \u201cmodest yet meaningful\u201d increase.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe've got to address corporate greed,\u201d Singh said. \u201cThe evidence is clear, these large corporate grocery stores and their CEOs are using inflation as cover to increase the cost of your groceries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiana, who asked that her last name not be used due to personal safety concerns, is a mother of two teenagers in Nanaimo. She works in insurance and her husband is a heavy equipment operator, but even with two well paying jobs she says that they are struggling to make ends meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can go to the store and see something that six months ago was $5. And it's now on sale for $12,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy is that? I understand inflation but that's not the impact of inflation, that would be $7. So where's that extra $5 coming in? That's pure profit for the company and I don't think that's fair.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tiana says that the increased prices are forcing her to make tough choices and purchase cheaper, but less nutritious food.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely less nutritious,\u201d she said. \u201cThe quality of the produce has gone down and stores and the prices have gone up. So we have to be very selective.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barron, who was up for the NDP nomination on Monday night, says she is hearing from constituents about the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrying to access that nutritional food should not be in question, it should be available and accessible,\u201d said Barron. \u201cTalking to Tiana about trying to feed her two teenage children. I'm also a mother of a young adult and a teenager, we know very well how much teenagers and young adults eat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singh took aim at the Conservative Party who placed a close second to the NDP in Nanaimo\u2014Ladysmith in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat have conservatives done?\u201d he asked rhetorically. \u201cWhat can they point to in minority governments, anything concrete that they've done to make your life better? To help give you a break? To lower your cost of living? To help your family in any concrete way? I can help you, the answer is nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cConservatives always focused on the super rich,\u201d said Singh. \u201cLiberals want things to stay just the way they are. We're the only ones really pushing for change that's going to make life better for everyday families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shea Peleshytyk is a mother of an 18-month old toddler and said she\u2019s had to cut back on fresh meat and produce and is instead relying on cheaper frozen food.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found myself sacrificing fresh chicken and finding something different, \u201cI don't want to have to make decisions like that for my daughter,\u201d she said \u201c Fruits and vegetables, the prices are just astronomical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Listen to CHLY's story below:<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Nanaimo on Monday, shoring up support for incumbent NDP MP Lisa Marie Barron in a riding that was a close race with the Conservative Party of Canada in 2021. Singh says the NDP wants an excess profits tax placed on grocery companies who are increasing their profit margins and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":175746,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[225],"tags":[29754,11208,7053,22493,9688,28879,2499],"radio":[240],"origine":[280,265,231],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175743"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175915,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175743\/revisions\/175915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175743"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=175743"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=175743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}