{"id":754705,"date":"2026-06-23T00:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/754705\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T00:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T00:34:14","slug":"province-unveils-findings-of-grocery-price-study-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/754705\/","title":{"rendered":"Province unveils findings of grocery price study \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

Critics say the Manitoba government\u2019s months-long study of grocery prices<\/a> and its response will do nothing to lower costs for Manitobans.<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Adrien Sala on Monday unveiled the report and three new measures government is taking, including giving $2.5 million to Harvest Manitoba to create a new \u201cfood transformation centre,\u201d restoring a nutritious food basket tool to regularly measure the cost of food per region and introducing legislation to mandate unit pricing in grocery stores.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there\u2019s more to do,\u201d Sala said, citing steps his government has already taken to address food inflation in Manitoba that\u2019s among the highest in Canada. It has targeted big-grocer property contracts that prevent competition from opening nearby and banned predatory pricing so a consumer\u2019s data can\u2019t be used to charge them more. On July 1, the provincial sales tax is being removed from all grocery foods in Manitoba.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"MIKE
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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n

Finance Minister Adrien Sala introduces the findings of a provincial grocery study at a Monday news conference at the Manitoba legislative building.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study will help guide the next steps,\u201d Sala said of the 40-page report. \u201cWe\u2019re committing today to bring in more transparency for Manitobans by ensuring that they can compare and contrast pricing in grocery stores to help them make decisions to save money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Price transparency is useful but doesn\u2019t help those who don\u2019t have enough income to buy food in the first place, said Molly McCracken, Manitoba director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporate grocery chains continue to earn substantial profits while food-bank use is at record levels, and Manitobans on social assistance or low wages cannot afford the basics,\u201d said McCracken.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know there\u2019s more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is a think tank that advocates for greater income equality.<\/p>\n

McCracken called on the province to tax windfall corporate grocery-store profits and use that revenue to improve social assistance, targeted income transfers for the working poor and to build more social housing.<\/p>\n

The $2.5 million to help Manitoba Harvest take bulk donations from farmers and grocery stores to prevent food from going to waste may help food banks operate more efficiently, but they were never intended to be a long-term solution to poverty and food insecurity, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, food banks are filling gaps left by the province,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said Premier Wab Kinew hasn\u2019t kept his promise to address the high cost of groceries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study shows absolutely nothing,\u201d said Khan, who called it a \u201cslap in the face\u201d to Manitobans who are struggling with the cost of living. \u201cEveryone knows the prices of groceries have gone up. What is this government going to do to lower prices?<\/p>\n

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Manitoba is bringing back a nutritious food basket tool that will regularly measure food prices by region and help the government inform policy. (Graham Hughes \/ The Canadian Press files)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a historic number of Manitobans \u2014 over 60,000 \u2014 visiting food banks a month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khan said Manitoba\u2019s cost of living increased in May 4.6 per cent, which was higher than most other Canadian provinces. He repeated his call for the province to reduce the amount of income tax Manitobans pay, by nearly doubling the basic personal exemption to $30,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually appalling that in a time of financial crisis and affordability crisis, that this is the best this NDP government can put forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study shows absolutely nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sala said legislation is coming that will require all stores to display pricing for food that shows the cost of an item per unit of measurement, such as grams or litres. That will help customers compare products to find the best value, and to call out \u201cshrinkflation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unit pricing could help consumers make informed choices and it could add to operating costs for smaller businessess, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarge grocery chains have dedicated pricing and compliance systems already in place, while many independent retailers would have to absorb new costs and administrative work,\u201d said Brianna Solberg. \u201cThe government should ensure this policy does not create another competitive disadvantage for small businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

She called on the province to consult with small businesses to ensure those burdens are minimized, provide sufficient time for implementation and to consider exemptions or flexibility for very small retailers.<\/p>\n

Grocery prices aren\u2019t likely to come down until until high energy prices fall, said University of Winnipeg economics Prof. Phil Cyrenne.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

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Energy prices are a key input into food prices through production, distribution and retail costs, Cyrenne said.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless energy prices and restrictions on farmers are reduced, there is little short-term hope that food prices will moderate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Manitoba\u2019s inflation rate was 4.6 per cent in May compared with 4.3 per cent in April, Statistics Canada said Monday. It was the third-highest rate among provinces, trailing only Nova Scotia (5.2 per cent) and New Brunswick (4.7 per cent).<\/p>\n

Statistics Canada said higher gasoline prices because of the U.S. war with Iran pushed Canada\u2019s inflation rate to 3.2 per cent.<\/p>\n

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Carol<\/p>\n

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
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In 1997, Carol started at the Free Press working nights as a copy editor. In 2000, she jumped at a chance to return to reporting. In early 2020 \u2014 before a global pandemic was declared \u2014 she agreed to pitch in, temporarily, at the Free Press legislature bureau. She\u2019s been there ever since.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Read full biography<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Kitching
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
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As a general assignment reporter, Chris covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 Read full biography<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Critics say the Manitoba government\u2019s months-long study of grocery prices and its response will do nothing to lower…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,49,48],"class_list":["post-754705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}