OTTAWA — Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland will publish a plan today to lower food prices, attacking a key part of the cost-of-living issue that plagued her for much of her tenure as the minister of finance.
A campaign official speaking on background confirms Freeland will be in British Columbia today as the plan is published.
It will include a promise to cap profit margins for grocers on essential items including eggs, milk, vegetables and baby formula.
She also will promise to make "shrinkflation" illegal, referring to the practice of making containers slightly smaller so consumers barely notice the difference but charging the same price for less food.
Freeland is one of five people running to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who said last month he will resign as soon as a new leader is elected.
Former central banker Mark Carney, MP Karina Gould, and former MPs Frank Baylis and Ruby Dhalla are all still in the running for the Liberal's top job with the vote scheduled for March 9.
Rising food prices have been a major cause of anxiety and hardship for Canadians in the last four years. The annual report on food prices shows costs rose almost five per cent in 2021, more than 10 per cent on average in 2022, almost six per cent in 2023 and nearly three per cent in 2024.
Statistics Canada reports a significant increase in the number of Canadians living in what it calls "food insecure houses", from about 6.1 million people in 2019 to almost 8.7 million people in 2023.
The Liberals have spent time pushing national grocers to sign a code of conduct to help lower prices, but have resisted calls from the NDP to set price caps.
Freeland in 2023 said more than once that more competition needed to be introduced to Canada's grocery industry, but efforts by her former cabinet to make that happen have failed to add new retailers to the system.
Freeland's campaign official says today she will promise to improve competition by banning grocers from also owning wholesalers, processors and distributors.
She will also promise low-cost financing to attract new independent grocers and consider allowing foreign grocers to enter the market, with the exception of American grocery outlets.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2025.
The Canadian Press