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Interest rate hikes have yet to bring down food prices. Here are the tools governments could try – CBC.ca

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Your grocery bill is much higher than it used to be.

The latest inflation numbers from Statistics Canada show that while overall inflation fell to 5.9 per cent in January, food prices are up 10.4 per cent compared to last year. That number is up slightly from December’s 10.1 per cent.

“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many factors have impacted prices at the grocery store, such as supply chain disruptions, labour shortages, changes in consumer purchasing patterns, poor weather in some growing regions, tariffs, higher input costs and higher wages,” StatsCan said in a Nov. 2022 report about the rising cost of food. 

The report adds that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also played a part because of the importance of both countries in food production.

The issue has proven serious enough to convince a parliamentary committee to launch a study of higher food prices and how government might address them. But experts tell CBC News governments don’t have many good options to bring food prices down — although they could offer relief for the poor and hungry.

Going after the grocers

While StatsCan has pointed to a wide range of factors leading to higher food prices, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has blamed privately-owned corporations. Singh has labelled the rising prices “greedflation.”

Singh has called for a new tax on grocery chain profits to address the issue. He said revenue from that tax could be used to help those struggling with their bills.

“Fifteen super-profitable industries — including the grocery sector — are driving inflation in Canada,” Singh said in a Dec. 2022 news release.

“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should implement a windfall tax to make these big grocery chains pay what they owe.”

Canadian grocery giant Loblaw reported $529 million in fourth quarter profits earlier this week, beating analysts’ expectations.

Meat prices shown in a Surrey, B.C. grocery store in Jan. 2023. A House of Commons committee is studying food price inflation in an effort to address rising prices. (Justine Boulin/CBC)

In testimony before the House of Commons agriculture and agrifood committee — the committee studying food price inflation — Jodat Hussein, Loblaw’s senior vice-president of retail finance, said most of the company’s profits are not coming from high margins on food. He said the company’s food suppliers increased their prices, which Loblaw then had to pass on to customers.

“We are dependent on what suppliers charge us when we set our retail prices,” Hussein told the committee in his December 2022 testimony.

“Fundamentally, grocery prices are up because the cost of what grocers buy from suppliers have gone up.”

Hussein said the company’s profits were coming from other areas Loblaw does business in, such as pharmaceuticals.

Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, said the committee’s questioning of grocery executives amounted to “political theatre.”

“I think there’s almost no evidence that the grocers are taking excessive margins right now,” he said. “It’s easy to blame the grocers because that’s where we’re feeling the pinch.”

Von Massow said sales of non-food items and a higher volume of grocery sales — driven in part by people eating out less — largely account for the higher profits.

But Valerie Tarasuk, a professor in the University of Toronto’s department of nutritional science, said the committee is doing important work by questioning the executives. She said there should be more government studies of how the Canadian grocery industry sets its prices.

“I think there needs to be more because I think it’s a very real question … There’s a lot of mystery in terms of how big food retailers operate,” she said.

“As we continue, month after month after month, to see these unprecedented levels of food price inflation, it begs the question of how come that’s happening, and what does it take to get it under control?”

The government could introduce price controls on certain food products to address food inflation. The move would effectively place a limit on how expensive those items could get.

Von Massow said such a policy could lead to empty store shelves.

“So if you say to a business … that there are two products that you can sell, one of which is price-controlled, the other one which you can make your normal margin on, you’re going to see them focus on the product that is that is more likely to give them a return,” he said.

Mike von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph, said many of the governments options to bring food prices down have drawbacks. (Hannah Yoon/The Canadian Press)

Rick Barichello, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s food and resource economics program, agreed that price freezes aren’t a good solution.

“They don’t really solve the problem of how do you get more supply on the shelves. In fact, they make that worse,” he said.

Another option is to place export controls on the food Canada produces, barring it from leaving the country and possibly pushing down domestic prices.

Von Massow said such an approach could be more trouble than it’s worth, given Canada’s international reputation as a reliable trading partner. Export bans could damage that reputation, he said.

Yet another option is for the federal government to bring in food subsidies. The government currently does this in Canada’s North through its Nutrition North Canada programs.

But Barichello said a subsidy on food products could be an expense government can’t afford right now. 

“It has to be paid for by the government,” he said. “With government budgets being relatively constrained, then that’s a problem.”

The supply management question

The federal government could also dismantle or change Canada’s supply management system. The system allows the Canadian dairy, poultry and egg industries to limit supply of those foodstuffs, sets minimum prices and provides those sectors with protection from foreign competition.

Critics of supply management have said it artificially inflates food prices. Its supporters say it’s necessary to financially support Canadian agriculture.

Tarasuk said it’s important to note that, unlike other products on grocery store shelves, the prices of supply managed items are at least partially under the federal government’s control right now.

“I think it’s worth the federal government thinking through what kind of leverage it has there,” Tarasuk said.

“Because to see the price of commodities like milk rising in the way that it has, from a nutrition perspective, that’s very concerning.”

But von Massow said abolishing supply management would be a long and complicated affair — and would be unlikely to bring down prices significantly. He cited research he and colleagues have done on the subject.

“[It’s] always worth having a conversation about supply management, but there’s not a switch we can click and change that,” he said.

“I think people would be surprised at how how small the the benefit of getting rid of it might be.”

Tarasuk and von Massow agreed that governments’ best short-term option would be to provide targeted financial support to those affected most by food inflation, such as the poor and those on fixed incomes.

“There are a lot of people who are the working poor, people who are on assistance, people who are on fixed pensions who are struggling and already aren’t eating out and already are buying as cheaply as they can,” von Massow said.

“Perhaps there would be some justification to say rather than providing a universal subsidy for everybody, we provide some some direct payments to those people who need it the most.”

Long-term solutions

Governments may have to concede that there’s little they can do over the short term to address rising food prices.

But Barichello said the federal government can take steps to improve the resiliency and productivity of Canadian food production and supply chains, which could lower prices over the long run. He said those efforts could include loosening border restrictions for goods and farm workers, investing in research and innovation to improve food processing and supply chains and promoting more competition in the food industry.

“Even if governments started being more active on this now, you wouldn’t get any clear benefits on inflation for probably five years or more,” Barichello said.

“So those are long-run things that we can be doing, and should be doing, but in the short run there’s very little we can do.”

Von Massow said there’s another issue the government could address to bring down food prices in the longer term.

“Perhaps the best thing for us to do in the long run is to take more concrete action on climate change,” von Massow said.

“That’s a big part of what’s driving these extreme weather events and what’s driving some of these price increases.”

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Mitchell throws two TD passes as Ticats earn important 37-21 home win over Redblacks

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September 14, 2024

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HAMILTON – It remains faint but Bo Levi Mitchell and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats still have a playoff pulse.

Mitchell threw two touchdown passes as Hamilton defeated the Ottawa Redblacks 37-21 in the CFL’s annual Hall of Fame game Saturday afternoon. The Ticats (4-9) earned a second straight win to move to within six points of the third-place Toronto Argonauts (7-6) in the East Division.

Hamilton visits Toronto on Friday night.

“Obviously they’re (wins) huge now,” Mitchell said. “We didn’t do ourselves any favours by getting into this position and not being able to really control our own destiny.

“But right now, we need certain people to win at certain times. Our job is to go out there and try to win the next five, then the next three after that.”

Mitchell finished 20-of-27 passing for 299 yards and an interception. He entered weekend action leading the CFL in passing yards (3,383) and TD strikes (21).

Greg Bell’s 15-yard TD run at 11:30 of the fourth and two-point convert put Hamilton up 36-21 after backup Jeremiah Masoli led Ottawa on two scoring drives. Following a 13-yard TD strike to Andre Miller at 2:53, Masoli found Dominique Rhymes on a 10-yard touchdown pass at 7:43 before Khalan Laborn’s two-point convert cut Hamilton’s lead to 29-21.

“When you’re scoring from (15) yards out on a run play, that makes offence easy,” Mitchell said. “It’s one of those things when you get down there as a quarterback, it takes you sometimes five, eight, 10 plays and now it’s ‘OK, now we have to create some stuff and find something.’

“When you hand the ball off and you’re scoring from (15) yards, it makes the offence really easy.”

Ottawa (8-4-1) would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory.

Ottawa committed six turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles, once on downs) before an announced Tim Hortons Field gathering of 22,119. Lawrence Woods III also returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown at 11:51 of the first quarter that put Hamilton ahead 10-3.

“You’ve got to bring your best every single week and this wasn’t our best, all of us, from coaches to the players,” said Ottawa head coach Bob Dyce. “If you don’t play great for four quarters, I don’t care who you’re playing you’re not going to have a successful day.

“We should’ve made the tackle (on Woods), we had him wrapped up it’s that simple. Even though we didn’t make the play on that, there should’ve been extra bodies there to clean it up when he did break the tackle.”

Hamilton also tied the season series with Ottawa 1-1. The teams meet again at TD Place on Oct. 25.

“If we didn’t turn it over today I would’ve said we played really well offensively and that to me is what the biggest difference is,” said Hamilton head coach Scott Milanovich. “Even the turnovers today (interception, fumble), at least they were in their end and we weren’t giving them a short field.

“The biggest play of the game was Woodsie’s return. It got us jump-started, gave us the lead and we were kind of off after that.”

Ottawa starter Dru Brown was 17-of-27 passing for 164 yards and an interception. Masoli entered late in the third and finished 13-of-19 passing for 183 yards with two TDs and two interceptions, but Dyce said Brown will start next weekend against Montreal (10-2-1), which earned a 19-19 tie Saturday night with Calgary (4-8-1).

The Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s ’24 class of S.J. Green, Chad Owens, Weston Dressler, Vince Goldsmith and Vince Coleman, along with builders Ray Jauch and Ed Laverty (posthumously), was honoured at halftime. All were enshrined Friday night.

Steven Dunbar Jr. and Ante Litre had Hamilton’s other touchdowns. Marc Liegghio kicked two field goals, three converts and two singles.

Ottawa’s Lewis Ward booted two field goals and a convert.

Mitchell culminated a five-play, 96-yard march with a 20-yard TD pass to Litre at 13:34 of the third. It followed Jonathan Moxey’s interception.

Liegghio’s single at 7:05 of the third put Hamilton up 22-6.

Mitchell’s 54-yard TD strike to Dunbar at 14:18 of the second staked Hamilton to its 21-6 halftime lead. The advantage was well-deserved as the Ticats had more first downs (12-six), net offensive yards (260-144) and scored on both offence and special teams.

Mitchell was 14-of-20 passing for 210 yards and a TD, but his interception cost Hamilton at least a field-goal attempt. Dunbar had five receptions for 113 yards and the touchdown.

Brown completed 13-of-21 passes for 127 yards.

Liegghio’s missed 47-yard attempt went for the single at 12:45 to put Hamilton ahead 14-6. It followed a Kiondre Smith catch that was ruled incomplete and at the very least cost the Ticats a first down that would’ve kept the drive alive.

Ward’s 30-yard kick at 9:15 had pulled Ottawa to within 13-6.

Liegghio’s 19-yard field goal at 5:13 pushed Hamilton’s lead to 13-3. It followed the defence stopping Ottawa’s Dustin Crum on third-and-one, giving the Ticats possession at the Redblacks 40.

Liegghio’s 47-yard field goal opened the scoring at 2:42 before Ward tied in with a 24-yard boot at 8:44.

UP NEXT

Redblacks: Host the Montreal Alouettes (10-2-1) next Saturday, Sept. 21.

Tiger-Cats: Visit the Toronto Argonauts (7-6) on Friday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.



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Toronto FC downs Austin FC to pick up three much-needed points in MLS playoff push

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September 14, 2024

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TORONTO – Needing three points to keep their playoff push alive, Toronto FC’s Jonathan Osorio and Deandre Kerr stepped up with first-half goals against Austin FC on Saturday with goalkeeper Sean Johnson doing his bit at the other end.

A 76th-minute goal by Austin’s Owen Wolff made for a nervy ending but TFC hung on for a 2-1 win.

While Toronto (11-15-3) remains on the Major League Soccer playoff bubble in eighth place in the Eastern Conference (the eighth- and ninth-place teams in each conference square off in a wild-card playoff with the winner facing the top seed in the conference), other results went their way.

Seventh-place Charlotte, 10th-place Atlanta and 11th-place Philadelphia all lost while ninth-place D.C. United tied.

Toronto midfielder Alonso Coello called it “a game we had to win.”

“It’s a big win … To see that fight tonight was important,” added coach John Herdman.

Austin (9-12-7) came into the game in 11th place in the West, two points below ninth-place Minnesota. The Texas side has won just one of its last six league games (1-4-1).

Austin outshot Toronto 7-6 (6-2 edge in shots on target) in the first half but found itself trailing 2-0 at the break as Toronto took advantage of its chances and the visitors didn’t in their first-ever visit to BMO Field, before an announced crowd of 25,538.

Toronto had a dream start, catching Austin on the counterattack in the seventh minute. A sliding Austin player dispossessed an onrushing Kerr, who had been set free by a long ball from Coello, but the ball bounced to Osorio, who beat goalkeeper Brad Stuver with a rising shot.

It was the Toronto captain’s second goal of the season in league play and his 65th for TFC in all competitions. Only Sebastian Giovinco (83) and Jozy Altidore (79) scored more in Toronto colours.

TFC went ahead on another counterattack in the 30th minute after an Austin giveaway. Osorio found Richie Laryea outpacing his marker and the wingback unselfishly sent a perfect low cross across goal for Kerr to knock home for his third of the season.

Wolff, the son of Austin head coach Josh Wolff, made it interesting with his late strike. The 19-year-old U.S. youth international, controlling a long ball, beat defender Raoul Petretta and then waited out Johnson before slotting it home for his first of the season.

Toronto survived a nervy six minutes of stoppage time as Austin pressed for the equalizer. Austin outshot Toronto 14-9 (8-3 in shots on target) and had 52.5 per cent possession.

The win evened Toronto’s home record at 7-7-0, while Austin slipped to 3-8-3 on the road.

It was a costly evening for Austin with defender Brendan Hines-Ike, midfielder Jhojan Valencia and star attacker Sebastian Driussi allpicking up cautions to miss Wednesday’s game with Los Angeles FC due to yellow-card accumulation.

Toronto defender Shane O’Neill will miss Wednesday’s game against visiting Columbus for the same reason. Toronto could be short mid-week, too. The hope is veteran centre back Kevin Long, who missed Saturday’s game after tweaking his hamstring in training, will be good to go.

Toronto has five games remaining, including three more at home as it looks to return to the post-season for the first time since 2020 when it lost to Nashville after extra time at the first hurdle.

It is a challenging road.

TFC hosts Columbus, the New York Red Bulls and Inter Miami while playing away at the Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire. All but Chicago are in playoff positions.

The only previous meeting between Toronto and Austin was in May 2023, when Zardes scored a 91st-minute winner to give Austin a 1-0 win over visiting Toronto, which was then mired at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. That loss prompted a post-game outburst from Italian star Federico Bernardeschi about TFC’s drab play.

Then-coach Bob Bradley benched Bernardeschi for the next game.

Current coach John Herdman made four changes to his starting 11 with Bernardeschi and Osorio returning from suspension and Coello and Kerr also slotting in. Coello, who had missed the last eight league games with a hamstring injury, was impressive in his 59-minute return.

Both Toronto and Austin suffered home losses last time out going into the international break. Toronto was beaten 3-1 by D.C. United while Austin lost 1-0 to Vancouver.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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CF Montreal finds its groove with 2-1 win over Charlotte

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MONTREAL – CF Montreal is back in the win column after securing a 2-1 Major League Soccer win over Charlotte FC on Saturday night at Stade Saputo.

Montreal’s form had suffered of late, with just one win in MLS since July, but Laurent Courtois’ squad showed a level of poise and control over the tempo of the game that had not been seen since the beginning of the season.

“What we’ve changed in the last few weeks or months in terms of our methodology or coaching, is nothing. We did the exact thing, We had the exact same words, and we expressed them the exact same way,” said Courtois. “Today, everything just clicked.”

Caden Clark scored for the first time as a Montreal (7-12-9) player in the 23rd minute, in addition to Bryce Duke’s goal three minutes later that ended up being the winner, while Tim Ream found the back of the net for Charlotte (10-10-8).

Montreal had the first major scoring chance of the match after 15 minutes of play. With a free kick roughly 25 metres away from goal, Gabriele Corbo sent a near-perfect shot smashing off the crossbar.

Montreal would continue to dictate the tempo in the opening phase, finding first blood just seven minutes later.

Following a phenomenal triple-save from Charlotte goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina, the ball fell to Clark who volleyed the ball into the wide-open net, picking up his first goal for the club.

“I think you don’t lose the feeling (of scoring), everything happens for a reason, you just can’t lose yourself in the chaos,” said Clark, who had missed a full season due to injury and was briefly without a club, but was grateful for Courtois’ confidence in him.

“(To have a coach’s confidence) is huge and is something I’ve had both ends of so you just can’t take advantage of that in the wrong way. I’m going to keep my discipline with the game plan and keep my head right.”

With momentum completely on their side, the home side doubled the lead just three minutes later. Montreal continued to build up play on the left flank and found a streaking Raheem Edwards in behind the defence who cut the ball back to Duke, sending the Stade Saputo crowd into a frenzy.

Just after the half-hour mark, Charlotte pulled one back through a set piece — something Montreal has struggled defending all season — as Ream rose above everyone at the back post to score his first with his new club.

The second half began in a similar fashion to the end of the first, with Charlotte pressing high up the pitch and forcing several turnovers in dangerous areas. After surviving the pressure, Montreal began to regain control of the game near the hour mark, enjoying the lion’s share of the possession while Charlotte looked to hit back on the counterattack.

“I think when we conceded that goal we were like ‘here we go again.’ 2-1 is a tough lead before halftime … and at the beginning of the half we kind of shot ourselves in the foot and they pressed a bit more, they moved a bit more forward and that opened some gaps,” said captain Samuel Piette.

“I was happy with that, it shows character. At the end of the day, we just wanted the three points and that’s what we got.”

As the game progressed, Charlotte pushed harder to find an equalizer but to no avail. With only one shot on target conceded, the second-worst defence in the league put up an impressive front and confidently rebuffed every single Charlotte attack.

“I’m a big fan of the back five’s performance in their discipline, competitiveness, and synchronization with balls in behind,” said Courtois.

“We can’t explain sometimes in a game it’s not there, they’re capable and today they showed it. Let’s see tomorrow.”

UP NEXT

Both teams are back in action on Sept. 18 away from home as Montreal will look to avenge a 5-0 rout against the New England Revolution while Charlotte visits Orlando City SC.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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