Champagne says these 5 new measures will stabilize food prices ‘soon’
The federal government will be taking five measures that mean food prices should stabilize “soon,” Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced in Ottawa Thursday.
While the minister said the changes will appear in “days or weeks,” he did not provide specific dates and faced questions from reporters about how some of these actions differ from what is already in place to lower food costs.
Champagne made the announcement in a news conference alongside Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Housing Minister Sean Fraser. He said the actions will create “a much needed more competitive marketplace.”
Champagne said Thursday that initial commitments have been secured by Canada’s top five grocers, putting into motion the government’s first action.
The first commitment will see grocers provide “aggressive” discounts across a basket of key food products, price freezes and price matching campaigns.
“If we don’t see results, we will take additional action to restore the food price stability that Canadians expect,” a news release from the minister’s office said.
Last month, the Liberal government called on Canada’s major grocers to present a plan to stabilize prices by Thanksgiving, or face consequences. The top grocer executives pledged to “support” the Liberal government’s efforts to keep prices in check.
The government’s second action is to enhance the capacity of the Office of Consumer Affairs by establishing the Grocery Task Force — a form of consumer advocacy team. Its priorities will be to monitor grocers’ commitments and actions by other key players in the food industry, as well as “investigate and uncover practices that hurt consumers, such as ‘shrinkflation’ and ‘dequaliflation,’” the release said.
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