Canada’s trade war with the US reached new heights in the past week. And pressure is increasing on Canadian food producers, grocers and consumers accordingly. How long are you prepared to ‘Keep Calm and Carry on’?
The understatement of the week: Mark Carney and Donald Trump talk tariffs…
It’s turned into a game of ‘push me – pull you’ in the Canadian grocery sphere. Persistent rising prices are slamming consumers. And consumers are exerting their own pressure on the supermarket mog-uls, changing their buying and dining habits to make their food budgets go farther…
A perfect storm
We’re in the midst of a ‘perfect storm’ of economic pressures tat all add up to the worst food avail-ability crisis in Canada since the Second World War.
We may not be on the doorstep of rationing, or the disappearance of many familiar products from the shelves… But we are in a situation most of us alive today have never faced before.
Compounding factors
Not only are new Trump tariffs pushing up prices for food and other goods we usually get from the US… We are also entering the ‘off season’ for domestic produce, a period of up to 9 months when we rely on imports from warmer climes to keep all the foods we’ve come to expect in the stores year-round. And Trump’s war with Iran has also triggered a jump in oil pries the likes of which we haven’t seen in many decades. The price of diesel fuel for the trucks that bring all of our food to the stores has reached heretofore unprecedented highs.
Case in point: When blueberries were in season here at home (peaking in August), and truck journeys from the producers who were relatively close to home were short, I was able to get lovely fresh jum-bo blues for as little as $2.00 per pint / 340 g. That translates to a mere $0.59 / 100 g. Just Yesterday, the same package, containing smaller, sadder-looking berries was $9.50! That translates to a whop-ping $2.79 / 100 g. I switched to Canada Grade A frozen blueberries at a price of $7.00 for 600 g. – or $1.17 per 100 g.
Retailers reacting…
Food retailers are finally reacting to the pressures from both directions – producers and consumers. They’re investigating new sources of supply outside their traditional channels.
And they’re responding to consumer demand for Canadian goods to replace US goods on the shelves. There’s a growing ‘Buy Canadian at any price’ movement out there. Which reminds some older folks of the famous British resolve to endure and prevail during the 1940s…
My take
To what degree are you prepared to suffer while waiting out the current food affordability crisis?
My questions for you…
Where do you fit in?
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- I’ve had it. Where’s the Food Bank?
- I’m not happy, but I’m making the changes I have to, to put enough of the most healthful foods I can afford on my table.
- I’m boycotting US foods, regardless of price. It’s a matter of principle.
- I’ll never give up! Never surrender!
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Muse on that!
~ Maggie J.