Canada needs to curb corporate greed and break up grocery monopolies

Canada needs to curb corporate greed and break up grocery monopolies

The carbon tax is gone. So is Justin Trudeau. Yet food prices continue to rise faster than overall inflation.

It should be obvious by now that neither Trudeau nor the carbon tax had any impact on your grocery bills. Corporate greed and government ignoring its regulatory responsibilities have.

While some experts argue price increases are simply big corporations being defensive against economic shocks, an exacerbating problem — one that preceded both the carbon tax and U.S. tariffs — is that a small number of companies exercise extreme control. This monopolistic tendency has been developing for years, leading to less competition and the tangled web of supply chains now vulnerable to Trump’s trade war.

Economists have long argued that Canada’s grocery monopolies need to be broken up to create more competition, a consequence of which could be lower grocery prices and, potentially, the creation of new domestic supply chains which could improve food security in Canada.

This requires government intervention, not laissez-faire. 

If Mark Carney is sincere when he says Canada’s relationship with the United States must change, he needs to address the domestic problems that may be aggravating our economic vulnerability. 

High grocery costs and food insecurity should be at the top of that list.

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