OTTAWA — Liberal leadership candidate Chrystia Freeland has pitched a plan to lower food prices, tackling a key part of the cost-of-living issue that plagued her for much of her time as minister of finance.
Her affordability plan includes a promise to cap profit margins for grocers on essential items, including eggs, milk, vegetables and baby formula.
She’s also promising to outlaw “shrinkflation” — the practice of making containers slightly smaller so consumers barely notice they’re paying the same for less — and to overhaul the Competition Bureau to “end deceptive behaviour and impose zero-tolerance for bad actors.”
“My government will use tax dollars responsibly. I will pay for these measures by reducing the cost of running government _ without cutting the benefits and services Canadians count on,” Freeland said in an email detailing her plan.
“This means cutting red tape, streamlining how government does business, and leveraging new digital and AI tools to deliver benefits and services to Canadians, faster and better.”
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 still in the running for the Liberals’ top job. The vote is scheduled for March 9.
Rising food prices have been a major cause of anxiety and hardship for Canadians over the last four years. Annual tracking by four universities published in Canada’s Food Price Report 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 has reported a significant increase in the number of Canadians living in what it calls “food insecure” households — from about 6.1 million people in 2019 to almost 8.7 million people in 2023.
The Liberals have pushed national grocers to sign a code of conduct to help lower prices but have resisted the NDP’s calls for price caps.
Freeland said more than once in 2023 that Canada’s grocery industry needs more competition, but efforts by her former cabinet colleagues to make that happen have failed to add new retailers to the system.
Freeland’s email said she will improve competition by banning grocers from also owning wholesalers, processors and distributors.
She also promised low-cost financing to attract new independent grocers and to consider allowing foreign grocers into the market — with the exception of American grocery chains.
Freeland is also proposing to build 100,000 more $10-a-day child care spaces by “requiring new or renovated federal office buildings” to provide them. She said a government led by her would offer “new or renovated space in federal buildings to non-profit providers free of charge, and (lower) existing rents for non-profit providers to zero dollars within sixty days.”
“I will cut taxes for the middle class, including for Canadians buying that first home. And I will cut the costs of credit card debt, groceries, and child care for all Canadians,” Freeland said.