Lemmy Today

Late last year, Emily Johnson took to Reddit to share her frustration with how expensive food in Canada has become.

She fixated on one grocer in particular: Loblaw, the dominant food retailer in Canada, boasting nearly 2,500 stores.

Her Reddit group - named LoblawsIsOutofControl - was filled with photos of grocery items for sale at seemingly egregious prices, like C$40 ($29.36; £23.06) for 1.4 kilograms of chicken.

Soon after, Ms Johnson and others banded together to launch a nation-wide boycott against Loblaw, saying they were fed up with the disparity between rising food prices and record profits.

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Like many other countries, Canadians saw the cost of living go up after the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to supply-chain issues and labour shortages.

Although food inflation in Canada peaked at a lower mark, 11.4%, than in the UK and US, according to data by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the overall figure does not tell the whole story.

A price comparison between the three countries of some everyday items suggests Canada is indeed more expensive for some of those regular shopping basket contents.

Canadians are also grappling with a currency that is plummeting in value compared to the US dollar, which has impacted both the price of food imported from the US, as well as Canadians’ overall purchasing power.

Rising interest rates, coupled with higher rent and home prices, have also pinched the wallets of many in Canada.

Canada is searching for an international grocer to enter its domestic market, after years of anger from shoppers over high food prices, much of it directed at one of the big players. But would an Aldi or a Lidl solve the problem?