Experts warn that, with surging inflation showing no signs of abating, rising food prices might become the archetypal bread-and-butter issue in Canada’s federal election.
In July, the country’s annual inflation rate soared to a 10-year high of 3.7 percent, marking the fourth month in a row that year-over-year hikes above 3%.
While petrol prices and housing costs have driven much of the recent hikes, Canadians’ wallets have also been squeezed by higher-priced grocery and restaurant meals.
From General Mills to Chipolte, both food manufacturers and restaurant chains have been announcing price increases as they grapple with higher costs for transportation and agricultural commodities like wheat and corn. Restaurants, in particular, have also been struggling with crippling labour shortages that are adding pressure to their bottom lines.
From General Mills to Chipolte, both food manufacturers and restaurant chains have been announcing price increases as they grapple with higher costs for transportation and agricultural commodities like wheat and corn. Restaurants, in particular, have also been struggling with crippling labour shortages that are adding pressure to their bottom lines.
Climbing food prices are becoming a political issue around the world. In July, the global food price index of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations stood more than 30 per cent higher than it was during the same month in 2020.
The increase has prompted some governments to try to curb kitchen-table inflation, with Russia and Argentina, for example, curbing their own exports of wheat and meat, respectively.
In Canada, the question of rising food prices is also becoming increasingly intertwined with the issue of climate change.
The fires and draught that have ravaged North America’s western regions this summer could translate into sticker shock for Canadians at restaurants and groceries stores this fall, warns Michael von Massow of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Guelph.
As cattle ranchers in Western Canada are forced to reduce the size of their livestock, meat prices could spike, von Massow says.
“The last time, in 2013 and 2014, that we saw a significant drought in the western area of North America, we saw beef prices go up in the neighborhood of 25 per cent,” he says.
Produce could also become significantly more expensive if dry conditions start to affect agricultural outputs in areas like California and Arizona, from which Canada imports its fruit and vegetables once the domestic growing season is over, von Massow says.
“The drought and sort of these extreme weather conditions that arise due to climate change will continue to wreak havoc on food prices,” he says.
According to Bricker, this places food costs at the crossroads of two concerns that are top-of-mind for much of Canada’s electorate.
“During the last election campaign, climate change was at the top of voter concerns,” he says.
While the COVID-19 epidemic temporarily overshadowed climate concerns, climate change has swiftly re-emerged as a top priority for Canadians as concerns about the health emergency began to fade in the spring and summer, he says.
As wildfires and heat waves began to plague Western Canada, those concerns grew even more quickly, according to Bricker.
Source_ The Canadian Press
