XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: man.politics, sk.politics, nb.general   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Toronto Sun - First posted: Monday, August 05, 2013   
      
      
   Canadian consumers cope with dramatic increase in food prices   
      
      
      
   Paul O'Brien, who relies on social assistance, says the spike in food   
   prices has forced him to steal on a few occasions.   
      
      
   Inside an east-end No Frills around dinner time, customers are lining up   
   with coupons and grocery carts full of discounted items.   
      
   But, these days, discount shopping isn’t necessarily enough to keep   
   grocery bills low.   
      
   The price of food in Canada is steadily on the rise. The cost of basic   
   staples such as bread, meat and eggs is increasing at a relatively rapid   
   rate.   
      
   A recently-released report by Statistics Canada which looked at Canadian   
   food prices between 2007-2012, found prices rose nearly twice the rate   
   of the Consumer Price Index.   
      
   “The report showed that prices have increased at a cumulative rate of   
   19% over the last five years,” said Mark Brown, from the federal   
   agency’s economic analysis division.   
      
   “The report also showed that for Canada, the price of food rose at   
   almost twice the rate of the Consumer Price Index, excluding food.”   
      
   But frustratingly for consumers, this isn’t happening in the United   
   States where food prices are still much cheaper than those in Canadian   
   supermarkets.   
      
   A comparison of prices between basic commodities in Canada and the U.S.   
   showed that — on average — Canadians paid at least a full dollar more   
   when purchasing a product. In some cases they paid almost double.   
      
   For example, last spring, Canadians paid $7.10 for one kilogram of   
   chicken while shoppers in the U.S, paid only $3.37.   
      
   “It makes me really mad to think that the U.S. are paying less for steak   
   than me, I feel like I’m getting ripped off, it just isn’t fair,” said   
   Paul O’Brien, 48, who relies on social assistance.   
      
   He said high food prices are making him suffer because his income   
   remains the same.   
      
   “At the end of the month, I’m honestly left with nothing. There have   
   even been a few times I’ve been forced to steal food because I don’t   
   have any other options. No Frills isn’t even cheap any more,” said   
   O’Brien.   
      
   Robert Fox, Executive Director of Oxfam Canada — part of a global effort   
   to end hunger — blamed the food price increase on several factors.   
      
   “Oil prices continue to rise, climate change and a redirection of food   
   crops to bio-fuel, are all causing the overall supply of food to   
   decrease, and all this affects cost,” said Fox.   
      
   He added there’s also more competition among food companies in the   
   United States than in Canada.   
      
   “The concentration of ownership in the food industry in Canada   
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   is also pretty bad — there are basically five major food producers. This   
   type of thing will drive prices up because it isn’t very competitive,”   
   Fox said.   
      
   Loblaw Companies Ltd. is the largest grocery chain in Canada. It   
   encompasses more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores, about 400   
   associate stores and nearly 4,700 independent stores, including Loblaws   
   and No Frills.   
      
   Fox explained this type of concentration hurts consumers because it   
   decreases competition and drives out smaller and locally-supported grocers.   
      
   Loblaw recently announced plans to buy Shoppers Drug Mart — the   
   country’s biggest pharmacy chain — for $12.4 billion. This will be   
   another gain for a company that already had a massive piece of the food   
   market pie in Canada.   
      
   “People in the U.S. also tend to be closer to where more of their food   
   is produced, which decreases the expense of travel and that makes a   
   difference in cost.”   
      
   The American government has also been better at protecting farmers its   
   Canadian counterpart.   
      
   “The U.S. has historically had a law in place called the ‘Farm Bill’   
   that sets subsidy levels for commodities, and we don’t have an   
   equivalent subsidy program like that in Canada,” said Cathy Bronson,   
   from the National Farmers Union.   
      
   “U.S. farmers can charge less for their products than Canadian farmers   
   because of this.”   
      
   The spike in food costs is not just a problem for people who are on   
   fixed incomes, insisted Fox.   
      
   “The global food system is broken. What we’re seeing in Canada and   
   around the world is that people’s salaries are stagnant or dropping and   
   food prices are spiking in many different markets,” said Fox.   
      
   Bibi Biliz, 62, who works in sales in Toronto, said she is one of the   
   people trying on cope on less.   
      
   “My budget for food has had to increase but my salary has actually gone   
   down in the last couple of years because work has been slow since the   
   recession,” she added. “There are a lot of things I’ve had to give up.”   
      
   Biliz said he heads to Buffalo on shopping trips when possible “and I   
   think it’s absolutely crazy that you can buy the exact same things there   
   for less than what you pay here.”   
      
   Biliz said she now shops wherever the sales are.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)