North Island-Powell River MP Rachel Blaney seconded NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s recent Private Member’s bill about grocery prices.
“People in North Island – Powell River and across Canada can’t afford basic necessities while CEOs continue to get richer, clearly the process is broken,” Blaney said. “We need to put the needs of everyday people front and centre while addressing inflation.”
The bill is aimed at ensuring Canadians are not subjected to price gouging at the grocery store, ultimately bringing down the cost of food.
According to an NDP release, the proposed bill will increase penalties handed out for price fixing, protect small grocery stores from anti-competitive tactics from large chains, and increase the competition bureau’s powers to crack down on price-gouging abuse. Food inflation in August remains at 6.9 per cent, well above the overall inflation rate of four per cent. Families in Canada are struggling to keep up with the increasing cost of groceries.
“Despite the fact that Canadians are working hard, families are falling further behind,” Blaney said. “We are tired of seeing CEO’s profits continually increase while we are being gouged on our grocery bills. Canadians deserve a break.”
Singh visited Campbell River in January to discuss cost of living issues and to hear from people in the riding about their concerns.
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