groceries

Thursday April 13, 2023

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday April 13, 2023

Grocery Shopping: The New Jewelry Store Experience

September 29, 2022

Move over, Tiffany’s! The hottest place to shop for precious commodities is now your local supermarket. With prices soaring to new heights, Canadians are flocking to grocery chains with the same excitement and anticipation as shopping for gold, diamonds, and expensive gems in a jewelry store.

According to a recent survey by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, a staggering 30 percent of Canadians believe that grocery chain price gouging is the main culprit behind skyrocketing food prices. It seems that the CEOs of the country’s biggest supermarket chains, Loblaw, Empire, and Metro, have failed to convince the public of their transparency and honesty, with only 25 percent of Canadians trusting their data-sharing efforts. Consumer trust, which is critical for the food industry, has taken a nosedive in recent months, as Canadians grapple with the highest grocery inflation in 40 years, while the profits of these grocery giants hit all-time highs.

But fear not, dear shoppers, for the CEOs of these supermarket chains have reassured us that food inflation is lower in Canada compared to other G7 countries, and that their profit margins are razor-thin. It’s not like they’re raking in massive profits while Canadians struggle to put food on the table, right?

Opinion: What Canadians want in the food sector  

March 8, 2023

In fact, there are many factors at play here, according to the survey. Nearly 30 percent of Canadians also blame monetary and fiscal policies for driving up food prices. How fascinating! Who knew that the world of grocery shopping could be so complex and multi-faceted, akin to the intricate world of precious gems?

And let’s not forget about the lack of competition in the marketplace, which many respondents highlighted as a major driving force behind unreasonable food costs. With only five leading retailers, including the top three grocers, commanding over 75 percent of the market, it’s no wonder Canadians are feeling the pinch. Who needs choices and options anyway? It’s much more exciting to go to the grocery store and pay whatever exorbitant price is slapped on that carton of eggs or loaf of bread.

For small independent grocers, the situation is even bleaker. Rising rent, inflation, and the overwhelming dominance of supermarket chains make it nearly impossible for them to keep up. They are left with no choice but to buy supplies from their competitors, the very same grocery chains that are driving them out of business. Talk about a David versus Goliath situation!

News: One in three Canadians believe grocery store price gouging is the main reason for food price increases: survey  

December 10, 2021

But fear not, dear shoppers, for a Canadian grocery code of conduct is expected to be finalized soon, promising to address the power imbalance caused by consolidation among grocery retailers and promote “fair and ethical dealing” across the supply chain. It remains to be seen whether this code of conduct will truly restore trust within the industry, but hey, a little glimmer of hope is better than nothing, right?

So, the next time you head to the supermarket, be prepared for an exhilarating shopping experience, akin to searching for rare gems in a high-end jewelry store. Who needs affordable and transparent grocery shopping anyway? Happy shopping, and may the odds be ever in your favor! After all, who doesn’t love a little adventure and mystery when it comes to putting food on the table? (AI)

 

Thursday September 29, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday September 29, 2022

Butter Prices Continue to Soar Due to Ongoing Supply Shortage

December 8, 2016

Butter is our lifeblood, our saving grace. When all else fails, butter is there for us to spread on toast, toss into mashed potatoes, shower on our movie popcorn, or use to whip up a cake. But this essential ingredient is starting to cost a pretty penny, and right before its biggest time to shine, the holiday baking season.

Butter is currently the most expensive it’s been since 2017, with the price of the savory spread up 24.6% over the 12 months ending in August, according to the Wall Street Journal. Furthermore, the US currently has the lowest amount of butter in storage facilities within that same five-year period, so there’s not a solid reserve to rely on.

February 2, 2018

There are several reasons for the price increase, including rising inflation costs. To make matters worse, due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, labor shortages continue to slow things down at processing facilities across the country while the demand for butter continues to outpace supply in the Midwest, for example, according to the latest USDA dairy market report. 

The report also reveals that butter makers on the West Coast are running reduced production schedules. In the Northeast, retail butter demand is just picking up, yet tight inventories are causing some producers to regulate their supply across existing orders.

In short, you might want to reconsider before making that butter board.  (Thrillist) 

 

Wednesday May 22, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday May 22, 2019

Alberta beef producers carefully watch Beyond Meat veggie burger complaint

Beef producers in Alberta are carefully watching an ongoing complaint from their Quebec counterparts.

The complaint’s target? American veggie burger company Beyond Meat.

March 15, 2001

The company has swept into Canadian headlines, advertising a plant-based, meatless burger that mimics beef. It hit the news, to great fanfare, when sold at A&W fast food restaurants, and is now available at various grocery chains.

The vegan company hopes to tap into the meat-eater market because the burger more closely tastes like beef than standard veggie patties.

The Quebec Cattle Producers Federation filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last week, arguing Beyond Meat has no right to advertise their product as “plant-based meat.”

Alberta Beef Producers and Canadian Cattleman’s Association, which is based in Calgary, have announced their support for the complaint.

“If they’re saying, ‘We’re selling plant-based protein,’ we don’t have any issue with that at all. That’s not misleading at all. That’s very clear what consumers are getting,” Alberta Beef Producers executive director Rich Smith told the Calgary Eyeopener.

January 16, 2019

“When they start introducing terms that they’re using in a comparative way and sometimes in a negative way in their advertising, then that’s where we think it’s unfair and misleading to to our industry and to consumers.”

Beef producers in Alberta are carefully watching an ongoing complaint from their Quebec counterparts.

The complaint’s target? American veggie burger company Beyond Meat.

The company has swept into Canadian headlines, advertising a plant-based, meatless burger that mimics beef. It hit the news, to great fanfare, when sold at A&W fast food restaurants, and is now available at various grocery chains.

The vegan company hopes to tap into the meat-eater market because the burger more closely tastes like beef than standard veggie patties.

The Quebec Cattle Producers Federation filed a formal complaint with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency last week, arguing Beyond Meat has no right to advertise their product as “plant-based meat.”

Alberta Beef Producers and Canadian Cattleman’s Association, which is based in Calgary, have announced their support for the complaint.

“If they’re saying, ‘We’re selling plant-based protein,’ we don’t have any issue with that at all. That’s not misleading at all. That’s very clear what consumers are getting,” Alberta Beef Producers executive director Rich Smith told the Calgary Eyeopener.

“When they start introducing terms that they’re using in a comparative way and sometimes in a negative way in their advertising, then that’s where we think it’s unfair and misleading to to our industry and to consumers.” (CBC) 

 

Tuesday March 20, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday March 20, 2018

Ontario Liberals use throne speech to make big spending promises for health care, child care

Ontario’s Liberal government teased what voters should expect in its upcoming pre-election budget in a speech from the throne on Monday, promising significant new spending on a wide range of programs and issues.

The address comes as the province prepares for a June 7 election.

The speech comes a week before the government is set to table its 2018 budget, which is expected to include a deficit of about $8 billion the Liberals say is necessary to beef up spending on health care, child care and support for students.

“After delivering a balanced budget this year, your government has made a deliberate choice to make more investments in the care and the services that the people of this province rely on,” Dowdeswell said.

“As a result, the 2018 budget will show a modest deficit next year of less than one per cent of our GDP, and outline a path back to a balanced budget.”

Health care is clearly emerging as a central theme in the run-up to the official start of campaign season.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath was at Queen’s Park on Monday morning to provide more details on her party’s $1.2-billion proposal to provide dental care coverage for everyone in the province.

Speaking to reporters, Horwath said that an NDP government would “absolutely” run a deficit, but she said it was necessary because of Liberal fiscal mismanagement. (Source: CBC News) 

 

Thursday December 8, 2016

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Thursday December 8, 2016 Families could pay up to $420 more for food in 2017, report finds The average Canadian family may need to dish out as much as $420 more for food next year Ñ and consumers could have president-elect Donald Trump to thank for part of the price bump, the lead author of a new report says. Canada's Food Price Report, published by researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, was released Monday evening. The annual report, which looks ahead to 2017, cites weather disruptions caused by La Nina, energy-related costs Ñ including the potential effect of carbon pricing on the agricultural sector Ñ and a weak Canadian dollar as factors in the expected price hikes. Economists forecast the loonieÊcould fall as low as 70 cents US in 2017, and a weaker dollar would reduce the buying power of importers. "Everything we actually import from everywhere will increase in price," says Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report. But Charlebois, who works with the faculties of management and agriculture at Dalhousie, suggests there's one more major factor that could contribute to the increase in food prices: the incoming U.S. President. "We are expecting Canadian shoppers to be Trumped at the grocery store," said Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report. The annual report, which has come from the University of Guelph in years past, says the "proverbial sweet spot for food inflation" is between one and two per cent each year.ÊÊAt that rate, the increases are manageable for restaurateurs, grocery stores and consumers, the authors say. The latest report looks forward to 2017 and finds that food prices could increase between three per cent and five per cent Ñ with meat, vegetables, fish and other seafood projected to jump by as much as four to six per cent. Regionally, Ontario and British Columbia are expected to see most of the increases. (Source: CBC)Êhttp://www.cbc.ca/news/business/food

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday December 8, 2016

Families could pay up to $420 more for food in 2017, report finds

The average Canadian family may need to dish out as much as $420 more for food next year — and consumers could have president-elect Donald Trump to thank for part of the price bump, the lead author of a new report says.

December 11, 2015

Canada’s Food Price Report, published by researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, was released Monday evening.

The annual report, which looks ahead to 2017, cites weather disruptions caused by La Nina, energy-related costs — including the potential effect of carbon pricing on the agricultural sector — and a weak Canadian dollar as factors in the expected price hikes.

Economists forecast the loonie could fall as low as 70 cents US in 2017, and a weaker dollar would reduce the buying power of importers.

Friday April 25, 2014“Everything we actually import from everywhere will increase in price,” says Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report.

But Charlebois, who works with the faculties of management and agriculture at Dalhousie, suggests there’s one more major factor that could contribute to the increase in food prices: the incoming U.S. President.

“We are expecting Canadian shoppers to be Trumped at the grocery store,” said Sylvain Charlebois, lead author of the report.

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator Ð Wednesday April 6, 2016 Panama Papers: Document leak exposes global corruption, secrets of the rich The financial secrets of heads of state, athletes, billionaires and drug lords have been exposed in the latest Ñ and biggest ever Ñ leak of records from an offshore tax haven. The leak includes 11.5 million confidential documents shedding light on the assets and murky fiscal dealings of everyone from the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan to soccer player Leo Messi, movie star Jackie Chan and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The records, dating as far back as 1977, come from a little-known but highly influential Panama-based law firm called Mossack Fonseca, which has 500 staff working in 40-plus countries. The firm is one of the world's top creators of shell companies Ñ corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets. German newspaper SŸddeutsche Zeitung obtained the files from a source and shared them with global media partners, including CBC News and the Toronto Star, through the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. CBC News will be exploring more of what's in the documents, including Canadian connections, in a series of stories this week. "These findings show how deeply ingrained harmful practices and criminality are in the offshore world," said Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California at Berkeley and author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens. Zucman, who was briefed on the media partners' investigation, said the release of the leaked documents should prompt governments to seek "concrete sanctions" against jurisdictions and institutions that peddle offshore secrecy. While offshore accounts are not in themselves illegal, the leaked records show they are often used to shield illicit dealings. In a written response to questions from the media consortium, Mossack Fonseca said it "do

April 6, 2016

The annual report, which has come from the University of Guelph in years past, says the “proverbial sweet spot for food inflation” is between one and two per cent each year.  At that rate, the increases are manageable for restaurateurs, grocery stores and consumers, the authors say.

The latest report looks forward to 2017 and finds that food prices could increase between three per cent and five per cent — with meat, vegetables, fish and other seafood projected to jump by as much as four to six per cent. Regionally, Ontario and British Columbia are expected to see most of the increases. (Source: CBC)