Canadians Panic As Food Prices Soar On Collapsing Currency
It was just yesterday when we documented the continuing slide in the loonie, which is suffering mightily in the face of oil’s inexorable decline.
As regular readers are no doubt acutely aware, Canada is struggling through a dramatic economic adjustment, especially in Alberta, the heart of the country’s oil patch. Amid the ongoing crude carnage the province has seen soaring property crime, rising food bank usage and, sadly, elevated suicide rates, as Albertans struggle to comprehend how things up north could have gone south (so to speak) so quickly.
The plunging loonie “can only serve to worsen the death of the 'Canadian Dream'" we said on Tuesday.
As it turns out, we were right.
The currency's decline is having a pronounced effect on Canadians' grocery bills.
As Bloomberg reminds us, Canada imports around 80% of its fresh fruits and vegetables. When the loonie slides, prices for those goods soar. "With lower-income households tending to spend a larger portion of income on food, this side effect of a soft currency brings them the most acute stress" Bloomberg continues.
Of course with the layoffs piling up, you can expect more households to fall into the "lower-income" category where they will have to fight to afford things like $3 cucumbers, $8 cauliflower, and $15 Frosted Flakes.
As Bloomberg notes, James Price, director of Capital Markets Products at Richardson GMP, recently joked during an interview on BloombergTV Canada that "we're going to be paying a buck a banana pretty soon."
Have a look at the following tweets which underscore just how bad it is in Canada's grocery aisles. And no, its not just Nunavut: it from coast to coast:
Three bucks. For a cucumber. pic.twitter.com/xGkygxkxqB
— Steve Ladurantaye (@sladurantaye) January 12, 2016
If the CAD $ gets any weaker we might be able to buy groceries with shiny rocks #Canada
— Josh Landine (@joshlandine) January 12, 2016
@sladurantaye Heh. Had a similar reaction when I saw the price of cauliflower. Welcome to the future… pic.twitter.com/fxloxyePY3
— Craig Saila (@saila) January 12, 2016
The cost of Tide detergent in Nunavut: pic.twitter.com/2t2xA1EmYk
— themsteri (@teririch) December 31, 2015
And while some Canadians might think this is a regional phenomenon ...
... folks in the northern parts of the Great White North do have the most cause to cry foul:
No "Jack Nasty" it's not The Great Depression, but as we highlighted three weeks ago, it is Canada's depression and it's likely to get worse before it gets better. "Last year, fruits and veggies jumped in price between 9.1 and 10.1 per cent, according to an annual report by the Food Institute at the University of Guelph," CBC said on Tuesday. "The study predicts these foods will continue to increase above inflation this year, by up to 4.5 per cent for some items."
If you thought we were being hyperbolic when we suggested that if oil prices don't rise soon, Canadians may well eat themselves to death, consider the following from Diana Bronson, the executive director of Food Secure Canada:
"Lower- and middle-class people — many who can't find a job that will pay them enough to ensure that they can afford a healthy diet for their families" — also feel the pinch of rising food prices"
"The wrong kind of food is cheap, and the right kind of food is still expensive."
In other words, some now fear that the hardest hit parts of the country may experience a spike in obesity rates as Canadians resort to cheap, unhealthy foods. As we put it, "in Alberta it's 'feast or famine' in the most literal sense of the phrase as those who can still afford to buy food will drown their sorrows in cheap lunch meat and off-brand ice cream while the most hard hit members of society are forced to tap increasingly overwhelmed food banks."
And the rub is that there's really nothing anyone can do about it.
Were the Bank of Canada to adopt pro-cyclical measures to shore up the loonie, they would risk choking off economic growth just as the crude downturn takes a giant bite out of the economy - no food pun intended.
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The delusional Canadian voter has installed government regimes at the federal and provincial levels that are anti-wealth creation, anti-carbon, anti-pipeline, anti-extractive industry, anti-global climate change (nonsense), pro stimulative taxation, pro regulation & pro bloated bureaucracy! The average Canadian think they recieve 'free' health care, government creates jobs, high taxes are fair, carbon dioxide is bad & socialism is wonderful! In a letter ... Canada is F'd!
Your conclusion is right. Your analysis is wrong.
The average Canadian thinks the other way around. He thinks of his mother who is a teacher and his brother who works for the city and his uncle who is a middle-man in the health care industry and his sister who survives shuffling papers in a government office and his father who worked in the military.
the country is TOTALLY fucked up after 8 years of Conservative rule. pure corruption
I don't know...maybe they could have picked a better name for their currency. The Loonie? Seriously?
The Vietnamese do the same thing...the Dong. Whatever noble regional meanings these names once had have dissipated in the harsh glare of globalism. Like it or not, loonie and dong just don't sound noble. Or serious.
If interest rates in Canada were just to 'normalize' & revert back to a 20 year mean national average unemployment would hit at least +15% (minimum), CAD would drop well below USD.60, CMHC would be asking the tax payer for at least $250b & the annual fiscal deficit would surpass $+50b!
A friend of USA
Suffer
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In india , the cauliflower sells for
1/2 dollar per kilo
Life is Cool @ 100$ per week
Cheers
but many of them struggle to make $100 a year
And they grow their cauliflower in honey pot fields. Bon appetit.
I'm torn. Canada is truly our friend and neighbor, yet they deserve to suffer.
WCS crude is 15 dollars...most producers are bankrupt. Yes Canada is in bad shape, but seriously if you can't see this is the bottom your retarded. Thanks ZH for telling everything I already know.
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The question the Canucks should be asking, and why it's been hushed up for decades, is how the unemployed natives up north, are able to afford such prices?
Answer?
Because they're all on some form of government dole and assistance that's indexed to the costs up there, which are raised artificially, due to the subsidy of being on the government dole.
Rinse and repeat.
How do those Eskimos afford those snowmobiles and gasoline when there are no jobs up there, eh?
I'll shut up now.
•?•
V-V
Canada has long ago adopted the failed Swedish socialist model & has elected delusional, dangerous, & incompetent leadership that is woefully unprepared, unskilled & inadequate to handle any economic pressure or difficulty! The absent & mindless taxpayer actually believes their high-minded progressive government(s) is/are there to help & support them - instead of helping themselves! They believe they can live off government largesse as opposed to government living off them!
Canada has no food stamps.
Canada has actually maintained the same level of socialism since the 1960s. In most ways the US now exeeds Canadas level of socialism, for example Americans pay more per capita for health care, the "hallmark" of Canadian socialism.
A "high trust" culture can sustain a few welfare safety nets, but people from "low trust" cultures try to move in and abuse such safety nets, (like in Sweden). Our debt level is mostly private debt from trying to keep up with the rich down the street -greener grass.
The reason for the extreme level of consumer instalment debt is the extreme and intolerable level of combined taxation of over 70% to pay for the 60s level of socialism. Canada could not afford the extra burden of food stamps that it will likely need to provide soon!
"has elected delusional, dangerous, & incompetent leadership that is woefully unprepared, unskilled & inadequate to handle any economic pressure or difficulty!
And for some reason beyond my grasp you think we in the USA have done any different????
Yeah but Canadians don't get (free) Obamaphones. BIG. BIG difference. Our Fearless Leader is taking good care of us as he 'gets things done'. You can tell what a badass he is by watching his workout video...
Adopt a hungry Canadian separatist?
After all, if Mexico is a failed state and Europe is in flames, what becomes next of Canada matters to some people!
stop berating Stephen Harper!
Nunavut. The rest of Canada figures it rhymes with 'none of it'...and that's precisely what we feel about that place. We'll have none of it! ('cos we can't afford those prices)
What's going to happen when the dollar crashes?
We loot Canada. Think of it as a collective Powerball ticket where everybody gets whatever share of the pot they can grab for themselves.
So food is pricey inside the Arctic Circle. OK. Food stateside is dirt cheap.
Here are items I regularly buy at my local 99 Cents Only Store:
2lb bag rice.
3lbs. potatoes
3lbs. apples
seasoned piece of frozen salmon filet, skin-on
12.5 oz. granola
3 liters cola
12oz bag peanuts
7oz bag trail mix
large bag of fresh spinach
12-16oz of veggie medley carrot cauli broc
12oz bag frozen mixed fruit
14oz wheat germ
16 oz whole flax seed
bag of oranges
bag of red white or yellow onions
loaf wheatbread
mess of bananas
head of fresh broccoli
Those are all a buck each. Yogurt in 2lb tub is $1.77
Food is dirt cheap.
What´s the Looney Breaking Point on a bottle of beer? Eh?
(LBP on the LIBOR Index - Ever been in a meeting? Man those guys are a laugh riot!).
And Canadian, Ted Cruz, failed to report the $500,000 campaign donation from Goldman-Sachs to his Senatorial Campaign in 2012.
http://news.yahoo.com/ted-cruz-did-not-disclose-2012-u-senate-013513808....
Ted's wife worked at GS so that makes it perfect legal under US law.
The money came from GS which makes it perfectly legal in the US....
Fixed it for ya.
Nunavut is pretty remote and everything must be shipped up a long distance.... so prices would be high originally. Would need to see examples of before prices, but still the rising prices will likely be magnified in Nunavut.
Yeh, which is why the article went to great pains to point out it was not just a Nunavut problem, but coast to coast, or didnt you even bother reading the article?
This is what happens to anyone who thinks consumption contributes to economic growth. except of course the USSA. till now.
It sounds like inflation isn't too bad there yet based on the comments but we all may see this at some point and much worse. You might even be better off buying extra laundry soap etc then leaving money in the bank. That's how screwed up the financial system is right now.
There is no knowing which way the tug of war between deflation and inflation will go in the end.
If Canada has "collapsing currency" than what would be name for RUB in Russia as 2 years ago it was 34 RUB for 1 USD, 2 month ago it was 64 RUB for 1 USD but today it's about 77 RUB for 1 USD
Ha ha ha ha :D
How about the "exponentially" collapsing currency?
There is no inflation according to the stats. Subsitution effects overwhelm a 3 dollar cucumber since elk turds only cost 10 cents.
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$3 Bucks a Cucumber? FUCK THE POWERBALL I HARVESTED OVER 150 of those fucks from my backyard this past summer without even trying, appears I was rich this entire time and I didnt even know it.
Now if I just expand my operation................. abit.... we should be in business.
Matching the supply to the demand has always been the tricky part.
Of course you live nowhere near demand as always the case,
Timing is everything...last summer everyone had 300 cukes
Energy, mining and housing has driven the Canadian economy for the last number of years. Two of those sectors have been flushed down the toilet the third is about to be! Huge wealth has been built up in rising housing prices and will vanish even quicker!
The Order
EXT. dirt ROAD, wooded area - NIGHT
A light rain falls. A line of about 10 black luxury cars, all with tinted windows make their way down a long dirt road road.
INSIDE THE FRONT CAR
In the back of the front car sits MICHAEL WALLACE (25) in a black robe. He's tall, with jet black hair and handsome. His face leans on his hands in deep thought staring at water droplets on the window.
EXT. THE GROVE - LATER
The cars all stop at an area which leads down into an open valley. At the center of the valley is a 40 foot statue of an owl with a large burning fire at its feet. In front of the fire is a massive, pristine concrete alter with steps leading up to an oak table. Men in white robes stand facing the cars.
The car doors open as men and women step out in black robes. GERALD WALLACE (50's), from the 2nd car approaches Michael and puts one arm around him beaming with reverent pride. Gerald has salt and pepper hair, thin frame and face but much shorter than his son.
Micheal's mother, DARLENE WALLACE (40'S) grabs Micheal's arm on the other side as they walk toward the alter. Behind them walks everyone else from the cars as they all finally reach the alter. Michael and Darlene stand arm in arm in the front row while Gerald ascends up the alter and faces the crowd preparing to speak. The fire continues to crackle behind the alter, creating moving shadows upon the alter.
Gerald
Gods of The Order. Welcome the new leader of the chapter, my son, Michael!
Gerald raises his arms and embraces Michael as he walks up the alter. Everyone in the audience, except his mother, kneels down and begin chanting in Latin.
Gerald descends down the steps, away from the alter to join his wife while Michael stands alone. A man and a woman from the crowd walk up the steps carrying a young boy and place him on the table. Next to his body shines a large ceremonial knife. On the handle of the knife is the symbol of The Order. The symbol is the all-seeing eye in the middle of a pentagram. The man and women stand on opposite ends of the table with their head down and hands clasped somberly.
Michael turns his back on the audience and slowly takes the knife as the chanting behind him grows. Some people in the crowd begin making loud cries and odd smacking of the lips and movements of the tongues as the fire light creates fast-moving shadows upon their intense faces.
Michael see's his own reflection in the knife as he raises it above the boy. The boy does not move. The chanting and cries grow incessant.
Michael
(yells in Latin with sub-titles)
Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust!
Michael thrusts the knife downward, the boy lets out a weakened cry as his blood spatters across Micheal's face. The crowd, with their head bowed grows silent. The boy is dead. Michael shakily places the knife on the table.
Everyone watches above the table, as a vision that we cannot see, plays out. The light from the scene reflects off their face. We get a glimpse of tall buildings crumbling. Gerald walks up the alter and stands by his son.
Gerald
(Excitedly to the audience)
The God of destruction has received our sacrifice!
The Crowd
FOR HIM!
The people in the audience clap loudly in celebration.
ON SCREEN - September the 10th, 2001.
That's kinda eerie, dude ... a little too chillingly realistic, like you were there or something ... what does that have to do w the canadian $?
It has nothing to do with the Canadian $. It's the opening scene of a screenplay I'm wanting to write about 9/11. It's pretty raw but I do want to get this written. I'm just not sure how to write it.
"I'm just not sure how to write it."
Yep to dat
Just because you *can* write does not mean you *should* write. I guess you could always go 'straight to e-book' on crapazon.com, taking a dump on the world of literature, one 'free' e-book at a time...
Your post certainly defends the point you made in the first sentence.
When I talk about not knowing how to write it, I'm referring to it being a difficult subject to put in screen form. Especially with the Dustification/illuminati/conspiracy angle I would want to put on it. I've written two complete feature length screenplays, a couple of shorts. I've had two seperate companies approach me about buying one and one short placed in the top 5 of a competition. I have not written one in a while, but the desire does overcome me once every blue moon.
I'm not sure you could get financing to produce it. TPTB surely don't like the implication they kill children at The Bohemian Grove.
BTW, it's "altar".
To be honest, I'm wanting to change the Bohemian Grove aspect entirely. It would certainly be a challenge to get it financed, but it's difficult to get ANYTHING finananced right now. And thanks for the Alter/Altar correction.
i think the writing is really good, btw - creepy, but, yeah, considering the subject, well, God only knows how *really* creepy these ppl are, so your scene might even be too tame
im sure this has happened at Bohemian Grove and the Skull and Bones Society many times
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