Ottawa has struggled to increase grocery competition. Will the new food
Could food terminals, more domestic food production and tougher enforcement against anticompetitive behaviour finally bring more competition to Canada’s grocery sector? Maybe, say independent grocers and industry experts — depending on how the strategy rolls out.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a $3.2-billion food security strategy Thursday, with several measures aimed at increasing competition in the grocery sector.
That includes a $1-billion investment to create and expand food terminals and hubs, like Toronto’s Ontario Food Terminal, to help independent grocers buy food at more competitive prices. The government aims to expand the Ontario Food Terminal by the end of this year. By 2028, it plans to start construction on two new terminals and establish or expand 10 food hubs.
The strategy also dedicates $12.9 million a year to the Competition Bureau so it can identify anticompetitive conduct in the industry and carry out enforcement actions. It also includes funding for producers to process foods domestically and grow more food in Canadian greenhouses.
Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, said the measures overall are “good news” for independent grocers and Canadian consumers.
“Some of these [measures] I think will help with affordability and could definitely help strengthen the independent grocer’s ability to compete,” Sands said.
Many of the initiatives are ones Sands said he’s long advocated for — including the addition of more food terminals, which he said could help independent grocers compete.
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new $3-billion national food security strategy to combat issues in the Canadian food system in Toronto on Thursday.
“The Ontario Food terminal is a jewel,” Sands said.
The warehouse in Toronto’s west end brings together small and medium-sized producers of fresh fruit and vegetables in one place. It is also the only terminal of its kind in Canada, which is why Sands hopes the pledge to build two more could bring similar benefits to Eastern and Western Canada.
Christy McMullen, chair of the Ontario terminal’s board and vice-president of Summerhill Market, describes the terminal as a farmers market on an industrial scale.
Rather than relying on one or two suppliers, grocers can see options from hundreds of producers at the terminal and bargain with them to buy food at lower prices, McMullen said.
“There’s just more opportunities,” she said. “You’re in there, you’re bargaining … compared to, you know, just a traditional supplier that you call up and say, ‘Can I get 10 cases of cherries?’ And you don’t really have a choice.”
According to the government, hubs would function like terminals but on a smaller scale and support competition in a similar way.
Despite the distance, Munther Zeid, owner of independent grocer Food Fare in Winnipeg, buys produce from…
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