On Saturday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced his plan to make food more affordable for Canadians at a time when tariffs are impacting prices.
Speaking at the Parkdale Food Centre in the Ottawa neighbourhood of Hintonburg, Singh announced that if the NDP were to form government, the party would introduce an “emergency price cap” on basic food items.
“The reason why it’s so important for us to be here at a food centre, talking about food, is because a lot of Canadians are worried about how much it costs them to go to the grocery store,” Singh said.
Among the products the NDP would seek to cap the prices of are pasta, frozen vegetables and infant formula. The party said they’d select a “basket” of basics they’d be looking to keep prices down on. Their first approach would be to negotiate the caps with grocery chains, but if they face pushback, the party said an NDP government wouldn’t hesitate to legislate.
Singh is framing this as his way to “tariff-proof” Canadian food.
“All of the threats of Donald Trump and the threats of tariffs, one of the things that’s on people’s minds the fact that food is already so expensive. Will these trade wars and these tariffs mean that my food prices are going to go up even higher? And that leaves people really worried.”
The NDP has also committed to:
- Enforce a mandatory “Grocery Code of Conduct” in an effort to regulate pricing practices and prevent wage cuts;
- Provide the Competition Bureau powers to act as “a grocery price watchdog” to get tougher on price fixing;
- Tax the windfall profits of major grocery retailers such as Loblaws, Walmart and Costco; and
- Reform the federal Nutrition North program, “so the subsidy goes directly to northerners—not to corporate chains.”
“We know that these corporate grocery stores have ripped us off,” Singh said.
The NDP said there are international examples where price caps are in place, such as in France, where the government secured an agreement with grocers, and Greece, where grocery stores have been mandate to offer around 50 items at reduced prices.
NDP campaign heading to B.C.
Singh spent the morning in the nation’s capital, but will be wheels-up to the West Coast on Saturday afternoon.
Heading into this election,12 of the NDP’s 24 seats in the House of Commons were in British Columbia – including Singh’s – making it a priority area for the party to maintain support.
However, recent polling suggests as the election narrows in on Canada-U.S. issues, voters are viewing it as a two-way race between the Liberals and Conservatives, which could leave the NDP in for tough fights in some key ridings.
Asked Saturday what his strategy is to try to win back B.C. voters, Singh said he plans to let them know “how important this election is and how important the choice is in front of them.”
“Really, the question I want folks to think about is, who is in it for you? Who is making decisions in your best interest, every single day?” Singh said.
