Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney has a plan to lower food costs by giving Canadians better access to locally produced fruits, vegetables and other fresh items at lower prices than they’re paying now.
"We are an agricultural super power," he said. "Yet to most Canadians, it doesn’t feel like that at the checkout counter."
With that, Carney unveiled Canada’s first national food strategy, backing it up with more than $3 billion in investments over 10 years. He said there are four main pillars to the plan.
"The first is to increase grocery store competition, create more choice for Canadians," he said. "Second, process more food in Canada. Third, grow more fruits and vegetables all year round in Canada. And finally, lower prices by removing expensive regulatory barriers so farmers and producers can put more Canadian food on our shelves, more easily."
The strategy is aimed at the way food is bought, sold, transported and distributed in Canada. It includes $1 billion for more infrastructure such as food terminals and hubs that would help smaller independent grocers to compete.
"Within four years our strategy targets increasing the number of independent grocers buying from food terminals and hubs such as this by 15%," Carney said.
There will be more help, Carney said, with initiatives that help small- and medium-sized processors.
"We’re gonna make sure that there’s competition in the sector," he said. "We’re gonna give the competition bureau more resources to identify, prevent and combat unfair business practices. For consumers, we’re gonna crack down on surveillance pricing. We’re amending privacy legislation to protect consumer data, your data, so companies can no longer use it to charge you higher prices."
Canada doesn’t process much food, instead exporting to other countries to process. They, in turn, process it, then sell it — sometimes back to Canada. Some experts blame free trade with the U.S. for the food fix the country is in now.
"One of the negative consequences of the original free trade agreement has been that a huge number of Canada’s mid-sized processing sectors have moved south of the border to where they can get product year round," said Evan Fraser of the University of Guelph's Food Institute. "I don’t believe that is an economic logic that makes sense. One of the things that will make Canada’s food system more resilient to shocks and disruptions is if we can re-onshore commercially scaled food processors."
Fraser acknowledged doing that is more of a medium- or long-term solution — and won’t bring down prices now.
So far, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture is welcoming the new strategy but wants to see how it will be implemented. Small grocers, however, are embracing the plan.
Opposition Conservatives call it just another splashy announcement from the prime minister.
"In 2026, when Canadians are paying a thousand dollars more for groceries than they were last year, the questions for Mr. Carney and his government are simple," said conservative MP Michael Barrett. "When will their grocery prices go down as a result of his announcement?"
At present, Canadians rely on imports for nearly 90% of fresh fruit and more than 70% of vegetables consumed.
The cost of food, rent and gasoline, remains their top concern.
