We’re losing sight of the real villain in Canada’s food price world, writes James Curic
Last Sunday was a breakthrough moment for me. I ordered a McDonald’s Happy Meal for the first time in my life.
My parents didn’t feed me fast food when I was a kid, so by the time I was old enough to buy myself a McDonald’s, I was past the Happy Meal age. Now that I have a child of my own, I’ve been trying to do the same, but it took me a full three and a half years to finally buy a Happy Meal. My daughter doesn’t really like fast food and prefers Japanese food like ramen and katsu curry, but we had a busy Sunday and were out at dinner time, so we had to wait a long time with a hungry toddler in tow. I was driving home. Mickey D, we decided to treat her to a Happy Meal.
She didn’t really eat much. She only wanted milk and yogurt, no fries or chicken nuggets. But that wasn’t the most surprising thing. What really surprised me was the price. It was only $6.
How is this possible? The cost of food in Canada has soared to exorbitant levels, so I was prepared to pay more than $12 for a Happy Meal, but somehow McDonald’s holds the line. Keeping it completely affordable.
Could Donald McDonald also be put in charge of a Canadian grocery store? Because we could actually use someone on the other side who wouldn’t gouge us.
Especially when it comes to the “news” that you might end up spending $800 more on groceries next year. I put “news” in quotes because while I’m watching everyone pass this around like it’s a fact, it’s like someone has already calculated next year’s grocery bill and it’s going to be $800 more. This is because it seems that the number is actually a little higher. More than guessing. That’s politically tainted speculation.
I had doubts about this number when I saw the headline, and I had even more doubts when I read the actual report. The report, written by number geeks at Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan, and the University of British Columbia, says the $800 figure was determined by using “machine learning and AI models to make predictions.” It is said that he was led out. That’s an immediate big red flag. They also claim Trump’s stay was factored in to “calculate” additional food costs next year. Again, big old red flag.
Trump has not yet taken office, so we have no idea what he will do. He is as unpredictable a person as there is anywhere on the planet, so his presidency is factored into this equation. becomes even more useless than what you dreamed of.
Do you think groceries will be more expensive in 2025? Absolutely. Do you think it is possible to calculate with a certain degree of accuracy using AI and politics? Absolutely not.
This is why media literacy is so important and actually needs to be taught in schools. Because if you take a quick look at social media this week, you’ll see tons of posts from people stating as if it’s an obvious fact that food prices will rise by $800 for every dollar in 2025. . What bothers me more than these posts is that all the other posters are using this “reporting” to blame rising food prices on their own elected politicians. Go to Twitter and you’ll find people on the left blaming Doug Ford for food prices, and people on the right blaming Justin Trudeau.
Everyone is pointing their fingers at politicians, but they forget where they should be pointing their fingers: at Galen Weston Jr.
Amid historic food price increases, Galen the Great, CEO of Loblaw Companies, the head of a giant grocery store conglomerate that controls widespread grocery distribution across Canada, Never forget that last year he gave himself a $1.2 million raise and earned the total. Salary is up to $11.79 million. He did so after hiring a consultant to look into his salary. Surprisingly, the consultants he paid himself decided he wasn’t making enough money and recommended he be paid more. There’s something wonderful about it.
If rich Galen keeps giving himself raises and raising food prices at the grocery store to pay for it, I have to buy Happy Meals for more people than just my daughter. It may disappear.
James Curic had his daughter’s chicken nugs and fries and they were surprisingly delicious. Find out how to yell at him at the bottom of this page. Or click here to shout your Letter to the Editor into the digital drive-thru window and into the rusty speaker grill.
