Food’s getting pricier, and feds aren’t helping

It wasn’t a good week if, like most of us, you’re a consumer on a tight budget.

We’ve just learned Canada’s food inflation rate hit a record 9.7 per cent in May. What’s hitting Canada is a global phenomenon and food prices aren’t coming down anytime soon. The world will see a shortfall in commodity production this fall, which could push prices even higher.

Supply chain issues, and a new inflationary cycle triggered by war in Ukraine, are affecting the food industry’s ability to fill shelves. The shift is so sharp, many vendors can’t agree with grocers on pricing, pushing them to put their business on hold, as we saw with Frito Lay and Loblaw this year.

Some policies in Canada are making things worse. The Canadian Dairy Commission (CDC), a Crown corporation, believed dairy farmers needed a second milk price increase. This week, we learned farm milk prices will rise again 2.5 per cent, after a record 8.4 per cent hike in February.

This time, the powerful Dairy Farmers of Canada lobby asked for another mid-year rise due to “exceptional circumstances,” without saying where the data came from.

Adding insult to injury, the CDC’S decision to raise milk prices was made by a federal public body operating for months without a full complement on its board. Its board has only two members, both in dairy farming. Conflicts of interest in the dairy sector are rampant at the commission. The power and influence of dairy boards are beyond belief. If only Canadians realized. That the Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Dairy Commission are one is deeply disturbing. Canadian consumers need to be heard.

More Canadians would empathize with dairy farmers facing higher production costs, if only the CDC would share more data. The lack of disclosure is very much about asking Canadians to support an inefficient dairy sector, more than properly compensating farmers. But by fall, the new hike will price the grocery store dairy section out of the market and we stand to lose many more dairy farms.

Health Canada also is coming out with long overdue front-of-package labelling rules for saturated fats, sodium and sugar to make food healthier. But it also will target ground meat. Ground beef and pork are some of the most affordable animal proteins right now. Based on what is being presented, only extra lean ground meats will be exempt from the new labels. If this goes ahead, grocers will stop carrying more affordable ground meat. It’s ridiculous.

Ottawa is the consumer’s worst enemy right now. It needs to rethink such illtimed policies that will make food pricier. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s recent so-called anti-inflation plan won’t do much for Canadians at the grocery store. Many hoped for tax breaks, but Freeland’s “microwave” announcement basically “reheated” existing programs.

Recently, NATO’S secretary general claimed war in Ukraine could last years. Ottawa needs to focus on this for the foreseeable future. Farmers need help with inputs to prepare for fall, winter and spring. And Ottawa should become a trade advocate to prevent other countries hoarding food. More nationalistic protectionism can only make things worse.