32 per cent of Canadians blame grocery stores for rising food prices, more than any other reason: Nanos
Canadians usually tend to blame grocery shops for rising meals costs than some other cause, in line with a survey carried out by Nanos Research for CTV News.
The survey happened earlier this week and concerned greater than 1,000 Canadians 18 and older.
Thirty-two per cent of these surveyed mentioned grocery shops had been the No. 1 cause for the sharp rise in meals costs, up from 28 per cent in 2023. More than 20 per cent of these surveyed blame elevated gas prices for the rise in costs, a 3 share level enhance from final yr.
Canadians have needed to pay considerably extra for meals, beginning within the COVID-19 pandemic and persevering with into the current day. The Bank of Canada mentioned final month grocery costs have elevated practically 22 per cent between February 2021 and February 2024.
Survey respondents additionally blamed the meals manufactures themselves for elevated meals costs, in addition to climate occasions, the Trudeau authorities, the carbon tax or a mixture of every thing.
Increased meals financial institution use
The survey additionally discovered that just about one-in-five Canadians say they, or somebody they know, has used a meals financial institution previously yr.
The demographic with the best share of respondents who mentioned they knew somebody who has used a meals financial institution was between 18 and 34 years outdated, at slightly below 27 per cent. Meanwhile, the area of Canada that had the best share of “yes” respondents was the Prairies, at 27.5 per cent.
CTV News Toronto’s Mike Walker reported in February that greater than one-third of Canadian meals banks and charities say they’ve needed to flip folks away. According to the Toronto-based Second Harvest’s “Hungry for Change” research, a couple of million Canadians are anticipated to entry meals charity applications for the primary time in 2024 based mostly on anticipated demand.
“People in Canada can’t keep up with rising food costs,” Second Harvest CEO Lori Nikkel informed CTV News in February. “More people are being pushed towards food charity, which for most people comes as a last resort. Our systems are buckling under the pressure.”
Grocery Code of Conduct
The Grocery Industry Code of Conduct Steering Committee has pushed for Canada’s first grocery code of conduct, which might “support fairness in the commercial dealings between suppliers, independent retailers and large Canadian grocers to ensure that consumers … enjoy affordable and innovative product choices,” in line with the committee’s July 2022 progress report.
In February, the House of Commons’ committee that research meals costs urged Loblaw and Walmart to signal on to the grocery code of conduct, or threat having it made legislation. Both organizations have mentioned they won’t signal the code as presently drafted, saying it might increase costs for Canadians.
However, Empire Co. Ltd. CEO Michael Medline, whose firm owns the Sobeys, Foodland, Farm Boy and RecentCo manufacturers, informed an viewers at a Retail Council of Canada occasion final week there is not any proof a grocery code of conduct would increase meals costs and that he helps the code.
Medline mentioned there is not any code with out all retailers getting on board.
“I think everyone’s caught in a bit of a stalemate right now trying to figure out how to put pressure on the parties that won’t sign,” he mentioned. “I think it’s a bit of a game of chicken here.”
Methodology
The knowledge on this article was supplied by an RDD twin body survey commissioned by CTV News and carried out by Nanos Research. The survey was carried out by way of telephone between March 31 and April 1, with a random pattern of 1,069 Canadians aged 18 and older. The margin of error for this survey is plus or minus three share factors, 19 occasions out of 20.
