Ottawa, ON – Today, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the Official Opposition, sent a letter to Prime Minister Carney demanding emergency reversals on Liberal policies before Canadians go hungry:

Dear Prime Minister,

You said on your first day in office that you would be judged by prices at the grocery stores. Food prices are now rising twice as fast as when you said that and you have given Canada the worst food inflation in the G7. That is why I am writing to demand emergency steps to reverse Liberal taxes and policies that are driving up the cost of food.

This week, Canadians will go to the grocery store to stock their fridges and pantries with food to feed their families. But as they navigate through the aisles, they will be confronted with higher prices than ever before, as food costs have skyrocketed by 7.3 per cent over the last year.

Compared to last year, at the meat counter, Canadians will pay 22.4 per cent more for ground beef. Pork shoulder costs 13.2 per cent more. Whole chickens cost 12.9 per cent more. And when they reach for the grounds for their morning coffee, they’ll find that prices have skyrocketed 37.4 per cent.

The sticker shock has become a weekly occurrence and isn’t just limited to the grocery aisle. Canadians hoping to pick up a fast food lunch or take-out dinner are paying 14 per cent more, while those opening a restaurant menu are instantly hit with costs 12.3 per cent higher than just 12 months ago.

Your Finance Minister promised in October 2023 that food prices would stabilize “soon.” The only stability in food prices has been their continued increase upwards, with food inflation now increasing 2.28 times faster than before you took office. 

Instead of reversing course on the policies that drive up the cost at the till, you claimed that “the fall in the Canadian dollar caused by the obstructionism of the members opposite before this government came into place” was somehow to blame, despite the fact that as Prime Minister, you are the one who holds the levers that affect the strength of our dollar.

Prime Minister, this is a made-in-Canada problem. Farm Credit Canada reports that we produce 70 per cent of our food needs domestically, while Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada says that 80 per cent of the processed food and beverage products sold in Canada are supplied by the domestic processing industry.

That food should cost so much in a country with as much land, as many resources, and as incredible farmers as ours is utterly unacceptable. This has been a years-long failure to tackle the Liberal food affordability crisis that has driven a doubling of food bank line-ups.

That’s why Conservatives called on your government to immediately introduce a Food Affordability Plan that boosts competition in our overly-concentrated grocery sector and removes the Liberals’ hidden taxes on food, including:

  • the industrial carbon tax on farm equipment, fertilizer, and food processors, that drives up the costs of producing food and is passed onto consumers,
  • the fuel standards tax, which is seven cents a litre and rising to 17 cents a litre on farmers, truckers, and those who bring us our food,
  • the food packaging tax that will cost Canadians $1.3 billion.

It is time for your government to take decisive action before the situation gets even worse for Canadian families. We are ready to work with you to make this happen with a plan that reduces taxes affecting the price of food and increases competition to restore nutritious, affordable meals for Canadians.