The price of essentials still going up

BY STEVEN KASZAB

Various governments have called upon business leaders to answer a question: Why does the cost of essentials continue to increase?

The answers they were given range from the following:

• Lower Canadian dollar
• Increased import costs
• Ongoing supply chain impacts since the pandemic
• Extreme weather events
• Global conflicts such as the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and events in Gaza/Middle East
• The Carbon Tax
• Labor shortages / less ability to fill positions of employment

Perhaps what we are all thinking should have been presented honestly and with full transparency from both the government and corporate sectors: corporate concentration and corporate profiteering.

The public has to rely upon: big grocery, hardware, energy to get our food, merchandise, hardware and heating fuel. Corporations have concentrated their influence and financial power to a point that one can declare much of Canada’s Industrial and commercial sectors are monopolies.

What clearly shows that corporations share little with their government partners, or the public about how they carry out their corporate plans was the event not too long ago where: Loblaws, Empire and other grocers attempted to fix the price of bread, a food staple. The government slapped their hands with a minor fine and off they went to carry out further monopolistic schemes.

Over a billion dollars of profit has been shared with these grocers on an annual basis. The government’s attempt to get answers and perhaps force these corporations to lower their prices were for not. Nothing happened except that a photo shoot opportunity promoted both corporate and public officials trying to evade questions while not providing real answers.

This past May a group of disgruntled customers tried to boycott Loblaws. A social media success, but no real effect was felt by Canada’s grocers. Their profits continue to grow, and the public’s pocketbooks continue to shrink. Our food structure needs to be changed. We rely upon corporate predators to provide us with all our essential needs, and it financially hurts. Higher standards and more transparency with full accountability from both the government and corporate sector is needed, required and surely not going to be given. Our government is afraid to take these profiteers to task, and the corporate sector lives within a hidden shadow of privacy and misinformation.

There are regions where growing food is limited and scarce. Their dependence upon suppliers/grocers that charge an arm and a leg for their product bring many to poverty levels financially.  Once society recognizes food, agriculture and all aspects of the food cycle as a human right, life will become more equitable and abundant.