True Patriot Love - Grocery Prices Continue To Rise

00:00:00.000 $782 in food inflation this year.

00:00:05.360 $260 in relief.

00:00:07.760 And that's all you get.

00:00:14.360 Okay, Jim, well, it says it all right off the top.

00:00:19.300 Right.

00:00:20.200 This is one of those things that I become very frustrated with.

00:00:24.480 I hate that we create a problem.

00:00:26.700 when i say we paul micucci is going to lose his mind they the federal government creates a problem

00:00:33.420 yes but then they throw a solution up like it requires a banner and a parade and really it's

00:00:41.480 just adding more cost to the bottom line it feels like a foolish maneuver the official title is

00:00:47.220 called the canada groceries and essentials benefit okay great but when you start breaking

00:00:52.920 it down for a married couple over the course

00:00:54.960 of a year, it works out to $17

00:00:56.780 a week. And

00:00:58.700 I'll take anything I can get, but

00:01:00.720 in today's food inflation, $17

00:01:03.180 doesn't get you

00:01:04.860 much. And the

00:01:06.780 problem is... That's a pack of grapes.

00:01:09.040 That's a bag of grapes.

00:01:11.480 If you're lucky. Yeah.

00:01:12.620 But as this goes forward

00:01:14.900 over the next couple years, Mike, as we're finding

00:01:16.980 out the price of essential

00:01:18.780 items and meat and produce

00:01:21.000 in the grocery store is not going down.

00:01:22.920 It's anything but.

00:01:24.360 So the impact of it, while the intent may be okay,

00:01:28.060 the impact diminishes over the months and years.

00:01:31.760 So I guess back in January, Kearney announced, okay,

00:01:34.740 the HST rebate's going away.

00:01:36.700 It's being replaced by something with a longer name.

00:01:40.780 And it was fancy.

00:01:42.620 It said basically this is to top you up on groceries and essentials in life.

00:01:46.720 And like you point out, that's about $17.

00:01:49.940 Meanwhile, between here and there, more money committed to many things from our government,

00:01:57.740 but including extraneous expenses such as wars in other countries.

00:02:04.720 You know, this is an $11 billion investment into the hands of Canadians.

00:02:11.440 It's too little, and we've spent way more in other places that have no benefit to our bottom line as Canadians.

00:02:18.940 and Mike I I see the frustration all the time you know my partner and we go to no frills every week

00:02:25.000 the 10 days and we plan out stuff and you can see people going to the grocery store and saying no

00:02:33.160 and we were there a few weeks ago couple in their 50s look both professional the wife picked up a

00:02:40.480 thing of ground beef looked at the price just basic ground beef and said I'm not paying that

00:02:44.860 no way and put it back and that's something you didn't used to see in Canada and I'm seeing it

00:02:50.760 more and more and people are being like I will not pay this anymore I will go without this or

00:02:56.040 that I'll eat something else because it's just they can't justify it the other day I came up

00:03:02.180 with a little poem about the grocery situation and one day I will share it with you but there

00:03:06.920 is a part in it where I say that I've chickened out and I have I've chickened out yeah you see

00:03:12.600 like i've chickened it i can't afford lamb i can't afford uh any real good quality uh form of beef

00:03:18.300 no but no and even now i'm starting to chicken out on chicken because if it's not on sale it can

00:03:24.780 be very expensive right very expensive when you talk about these basics being covered off

00:03:29.740 really we're not getting anywhere at 17 a week it's not adding to the bottom line it might help

00:03:36.200 with the kids lunch a little bit a little bit but even then not so much uh and you know i have to

00:03:43.460 say we heard about it in january by february it was passed yeah june 5th the top up lands okay so

00:03:49.700 that landed in in people and now i guess in july we get another top up uh i guess the enhanced

00:03:56.180 quarterly payment yes we used to be the hst payment is now this will now be this uh so i have to ask

00:04:03.900 you the other thing is how do you feel about this cra has just changed the name of the hst

00:04:11.980 uh rebate system and they're just plugging this in so it's almost like they changed the name

00:04:17.500 but the same system is operating it doesn't that seem like a little too obvious or something

00:04:23.780 i i agree with you it does the bottom line is mark carney and his ministers to put this together

00:04:29.460 and his staff were thinking you know soundbite social media trying to help canadians they keep

00:04:37.220 standing up and saying we are making canada more affordable than ever but everyday canadians are

00:04:43.300 going no it's not the price of gas just got jacked up again not their fault but it did

00:04:49.140 the price of food is not going down the price of living is not going down so for everyday canadians

00:04:55.300 coast to coast what they say in front of a microphone a camera is not their reality mike

00:05:01.300 it's not it is 100 and i i do hate uh politicians giving us the picture of who we are canadians are

00:05:11.120 here canadians have this canadians are feeling this don't pretend to know no when you do rebate

00:05:17.960 systems like this you know i love this uh many thanks to liam by the way who uh does great

00:05:23.540 writing he's given us some stats i'll share with you but he he made me recall the phrase uh an

00:05:28.880 arsonist rebate you started the fire and then you brought the water come on yeah well what are you

00:05:34.100 doing here and look if you anyone's social media um they have friends or family that travel

00:05:40.700 invariably i'm seeing it a lot they're in europe they're in asia they're in other countries the

00:05:46.640 usa and they'll take photos in grocery stores just because it's such a touchstone item it's

00:05:53.100 such a raw nerve in Canada the price of food that they'll go to a local market or grocery store and

00:05:58.180 take a photo and compare the prices and a lot of Canadians go wait a second why are these sweet

00:06:04.280 potatoes in Portugal this price why you know what I mean and I think it's a wonder that at the same

00:06:12.500 time they're giving us this rebate we'll hear in the news that the Loblaws Corporation that Sobeys

00:06:19.220 that whatever record profits every quarter it's incredible every quarter when have you ever heard

00:06:25.460 oh uh loblaws is flat they're you know no it's no always going up and they own everything and so

00:06:32.680 so if you can't afford loblaws you may go to superstar if you can't afford that you go to

00:06:37.080 no frills you know they like sobeys owns this and this and so they own everything well part of the

00:06:42.580 grocery or the food or the uh food security it's called hunger i just want to re i want to reiterate

00:06:48.180 It's called hunger, okay? It's not food insecurity. Food insecurity is us not having a system by which to get food, which is another problem. But when it comes to just feeding your family, we're talking, it's simply hunger. It's not food insecurity. But part of the strategy for Carney was, okay, we're going to make a more competitive marketplace. We're going to create less grosseropolies. Nick, check me on that. Is that correct?

00:07:17.000 Monopoly on grocery stores?

00:07:18.440 Grocery store monopolies?

00:07:19.620 Yeah, well, you know what?

00:07:20.300 You make your own word and post it.

00:07:22.720 Nick's reaction, no.

00:07:23.940 But that's not changed, Mike.

00:07:25.160 No, it hasn't changed one bit.

00:07:26.740 How could it when we are not creating any sort of any clear runway

00:07:33.880 for another grocery competitor?

00:07:36.900 Wholesale pricing to start a grocery store would be untenable.

00:07:41.280 Which is why a concept of a government-run grocery store,

00:07:44.800 which has been floated out, everyone's like,

00:07:46.380 whoa wait how is that going to work yeah that doesn't seem to be part of the supply chain and

00:07:52.020 and a commerce here in canada maybe in some markets but the truth is jim if you leave uh the

00:07:58.560 greater toronto area in in toronto yeah you've got metro you've got voila delivering to your house

00:08:04.040 you've got the but you've got the same three or four standard large companies yeah how can another

00:08:10.100 company start in a smaller town at the lease and rent rates that have not come down on commercial.

00:08:17.160 I can tell you that for certain, even though there's so much vacancy. I don't know how that's

00:08:21.500 operating, but it's an impossibility to get into the marketplace. What incentives are we putting

00:08:27.180 out there? What 11 billion is being put out there to say to local grocers, you can do this. You can

00:08:32.720 create farm to table. You can support local farm. You can actually be a competitor in the marketplace

00:08:37.880 because you have access to the supply chain i don't know mike because i think a lot of them

00:08:43.280 get scared off i i know our family we try to uh visit farmers markets whenever possible yeah

00:08:50.200 especially this time of year you know we adore fresh produce that's been grown in canada corn

00:08:55.560 and whatnot and fruits and vegetables but that's a limited window oh yeah that's a fantastic thing

00:09:01.160 and it's a great community that's summer fall and then by by thanksgiving it's over but lang's

00:09:06.420 grocery store in Sudbury, Ontario

00:09:08.480 is a fantasy. I think

00:09:10.460 that's a fantasy we're being sold

00:09:12.020 based on we'll create

00:09:14.480 less competition. Okay,

00:09:16.420 but even if those grocery stores do

00:09:18.320 well, what happens to them as soon as they do well

00:09:20.500 in Sudbury? Lang's gets purchased by

00:09:22.580 Longo's gets purchased by

00:09:24.380 Fortino's gets purchased by

00:09:26.240 the Weston family.

00:09:28.760 It doesn't stay outside

00:09:30.380 that loop too long

00:09:31.720 before they start to, and I don't

00:09:34.360 see anything on the books

00:09:36.060 I mean, I see a law that says Bill C-19, we're going to give everybody some money back.

00:09:41.460 But I don't see Bill C-20.3, or I don't know how they name bills or number them,

00:09:48.420 saying, okay, we're going to create a runway for competition for grocery in this country.

00:09:54.680 Show me that. That's a real strategy.

00:09:57.320 And Mike, let's face it.

00:09:58.480 This is, you know, the government pronouncement.

00:10:06.060 We'll be right back.

True Patriot Love - July 22, 2026

Grocery Prices Continue To Rise

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