After Canada’s three supermarket CEOs were grilled in Ottawa in March 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised grocery prices would have to come down or there would be consequences.
More than a year later, and the price of a weekly shop is only getting more out of reach for many Atlantic Canadians.
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Now, a Nova Scotia physician has reminded us of another negative related to grocery prices: it’s a medical concern.
Meds or food
Dr. Tim Holland, a family doctor at the Sipekne'katik Health Centre in Shubenacadie and the Newcomer Health Clinic in Halifax, said some of his patients have stopped taking their medicine.
Holland told Saltwire patients say the decision comes down to medication for themselves or food for their children.
Another concern Holland has is that the highest quality, most nutritious food is also the most expensive to purchase. Instead, people are turning to unhealthy but cheaper options to help them feel full.
“So, 10 years ago, it might’ve been well, a person couldn’t afford meat, high-protein foods, but they could still kind of look around the grocery store and get a green pepper or a tomato,” he said.
“But now, those prices have skyrocketed relative to the high-carb, low-nutrient food and that’s a challenge.”
Baby formula
The sticker shock even extends to baby formula.
Taylor Bonneville of North Sydney, N.S. said after her son was born in October 2022, formula prices started ratcheting up.
“By the end of February 2023, we were paying about $600 monthly for formula,” she said.
Another Cape Breton mother of an infant, Devon McIsaac, said, “People are looking essentially at a second mortgage just to buy formula, which is unbelievable. It’s not a choice. You have to buy it.”
Newfoundland and Labrador offers parents a prenatal-early childhood nutrition supplement of $150 a month for eligible families, while Nova Scotia provides a monthly maternal nutrition allowance of $51 for income assistance recipients. P.E.I. has a milk ticket program for financially disadvantaged clients and families in New Brunswick may qualify for a therapeutic nutrients program that includes baby formula.
While these allowances can be paired with other federal and provincial assistance programs, none of it goes far enough when the total on the end of our grocery receipts are higher with every visit.
Cost, benefit
Expanding the Canada child benefit or bringing back a program like the COVID-19 emergency response benefit are among the solutions floated for the cost-of-living crisis. However, the cost of the bureaucracy to run these programs should not be more than the benefits being paid out.
This also doesn’t dissuade the giant grocers — Loblaw, Metro, Empire, Walmart and Costco who own 80 per cent of Canada’s grocery market — from continuing to mark up prices.
What is clear is that if people can’t afford to feed their babies or take their medication, something has to happen fast.
Deciding between eating, heating your home, paying your rent or taking your meds is not a choice anyone in a rich country like Canada should have to make.
