After hitting a thirty-one-year high of 6.8 percent last year, Canada’s inflation rates are finally on the decline. But despite cautious optimism from economists, grocery store prices are still going up, with the cost of food rising at a pace double that of regular inflation. Among the items that have seen the sharpest increase, compared to their 2022 prices, are kitchen staples like pasta (nearly 23 percent), lettuce (about 20 percent), butter (just over 19 percent), apples (nearly 17 percent), and fruit juices (close to 16 percent). Millions of Canadians can no longer afford their grocery bill; meanwhile, food bank use is predicted to increase 60 percent this year, according to a recent survey by Second Harvest. We asked Sylvain Charlebois, the director of Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and the project lead on Canada’s Food Price Report 2023, to explain what’s behind the sticker shock.
Nicole Schmidt: What are the biggest reasons food price inflation is outpacing overall inflation?
