Canada’s new grocery competition plan aims to cut food costs

Canadian shoppers and independent grocery store owners are welcoming a new federal plan aimed at increasing competition in the country’s grocery sector and helping reduce food prices.

The federal government this week unveiled a food security strategy focused on supporting smaller grocery retailers and reducing the dominance of major chains in Canada’s food market.

“Grocery prices are tough for everyone, across the board,” one shopper told CTV News at Farmer’s Pick, an independently owned grocery store in Ottawa.

The government says the strategy will help improve competition by supporting smaller retailers that often struggle against large grocery corporations.

“The Canadian grocery market is controlled by two or three of the big players,” Farmer’s Pick owner Alfonso Curcio told CTV News.

“They squeeze out all the independents because we’re not able to compete.”

Curcio said he supports measures that could help smaller businesses survive, but questioned how the government would fund the programme.

“That would be great, if I’m not paying for it somewhere else, through more taxes or whatever,” he said.

The federal government plans to invest around $3 billion over the next decade to improve food distribution, transportation and local grocery competition.