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.
(59 votes)
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They not only inject them with growth hormones but Steroids too. Superchicken.
Not any more, at lesat here....they were downsized a month ago. Still the best deal around, but not the monsters they used to be.
They also have easy access to caribou and some of the best fish you can get. Take away my payments for hunting and fishing licenses, let me do it all year, and I'll gladly pay 32 HoseurCoins for laundry soap (or not, I'll just make my own).
Only perishables are flowing in. Non-perishiables are usually floated in by sea barge. Costs are elevated, yes. Always have been.
Sometimes I wonder if it's the fact that southerners externalize costs by not accounting for full costing of the things we buy. For example, we do not factor in the environmental and health costs from massive JIT-style transportation systems spewing crap out into the atmosphere, the destruction to roadways, and so on.
Laundry detergent at $32? Oil-sand suicides must be driving up the demand.
canadians exporting bacon while they starve? The Canadian bacon famine, successor to the irish potato one....
Canadian personal income tax has a deduction called "Northern Living Allowance" that is meant to address this disparity of cost. However is not really reflective of the additional costs involved in flying in food.
Inuit and Northern First Nations have been abused since the arrival of white follks. But I guess they aint seen nothing yet. Oil resources, diamonds etc. How dare these people be living on top of what "belongs to the slavers". Gotta be their fault.
These photos are extremely misleading we don't pay nearly this price in the south, where the vat majority of the population live. It is much more expensive than the US and prices have been surging, but this is a load of bullshit.
As a Canadian, not a rich oil living high on the hog Canadian, but just a guy that was making about $60k a year in the city of Calgary... I bought gold in 2009... $960 CND/oz ... now worth $1567/oz... my Silver? most was purchased between $20 and $32 per ounce... so... I've lost money there... but thankfully, in 2005 I "woke up" to the truth of this world and started paying attention, I remembered what happened to Calgary in the 1980's and the so called "jingle mail" of people mailing the keys of their houses back to the bank as they lost everything.
Even tonight I am arguing with a 55+ year old man that has his mortgage paid off and thinks his 1960, 1000sq/ft, never renovated house is worth $460,000 and I try to explain to him what money is and how we are all getting screwed and that my Gold will probably only go up in value but who the fuck cares if there isn't a buyer... kind of like his house.
People don't like me when I say retirement is a lie that has only come true for a couple of generations... so many think that by making $50k a year they can live large, drive a BMW and retire at 50 years old... all delusional lost souls :(
You will feel bad when the free shit army comes for your bacon.
I pay about $10 for three pound packages. Usually very lean (as far as bacon goes) because I dig through every package in the bin taking only the most lean. If there are none I don't buy it. Some packages do not allow viewing because of the package design. I don't buy those either.
But a collapsing oil price DOESN'T AFFECT ORDINARY CANADIANS IF THEY AREN'T DIRECTLY EMPLOYED BY OIL because their economy is so diversified.
Do people not get this already?!?
/s
The price of Combo meal in fast food restaurant (Big Mac Meal or similar) in Toronto is C$9.
https://www.expatistan.com/price/big-mac/toronto
>> is C$9.
That's the up front price. The real, long term price is much higher. How much is a heart attack?
one could always sue BK/McDonalds for attempted murder......
price of national health care is factored in to C$9
This couldn't happen in the USA....right? Right???
<You're gonna need a bigger boat garden.>
It is creeping up in the good ol US as well.
Sucks to be them. Should have been born in a Reserve Currency country
Yea, like the $21 TRILLION dollars in debt US Economy is just kicking ass. The US is even more fucked than the Canadians. At least Canada has enough land with low population density to support more hunting, fishing, and farming....
Buy cucumber seeds?
Word.
I had so many cucumbers off my 3 little vines last year I had to let some rot away. Canned 7 (or so) quarts of pickles too.
Yeah. BC Okanagan Valley here.
I had so many cucumbers and tomatoes and onions and garlic and peppers this year from a small backyard garden I was giving them to friends, family and neighbours as fast as I coulf and still had enough for my mom to can some salsa and some pickles too.
Fresh produce is always more expensive in the winter here. Like someone up thread said ... pick and choose from seasonal and local availability. I am still working my way though a box of apples from a roadside stand at the end of the season when they were almost giving them away.
I get my free range eggs from a friend for 2$ a dozen. Local grass fed ground beef at my butcher is 5$ to 6$ a pound and the steaks and bacon and pork and chicken is.always cheaper than what's at the grocery store.
Went ice fishing this past weekend and got a couple small trout and will brine them put them in the smoker with a maple syrup glaze this weekend.
I ate Frosted Flakes once when I was a kid at a friends house and did not enjoy the experience.
$21 Trillion ! Ha ha, like somebody really expects that bill to be paid!!
And we actually bought real physical items with that toilet paper!
Owe the bank $100,000, you got a problem.
Owe the bank $100 million, bank's got a problem!
hey friend canada is a great country to be in if you are high, chinese, gay or a yak. buddy
Trudeau will fix everything for ya, eh.
http://www.barenakedislam.com/2015/11/16/in-justin-trudeaus-canadastan-y...
http://globalnews.ca/news/2405342/trudeau-calls-donald-trumps-rhetoric-o...
in canada police was forbidden to use pepperspray on muslim immigrant refugees. they dont want to hurt the feeling of rapists and islamic psychopaths. friend
before studying my brother went to canada for a year. he wanted to improve his english but he accidantly improved his chinese, thai and filipino
lucky he came back without any infections. buddy
Soon Trudeau will ban kippas. He's pretty far out there seems like.
"hey friend canada is a great country to be in if you are high, chinese, gay or a yak. buddy."
I'm not your friend, buddy! I'm not your buddy, guy! He's not your guy, friend! I'm not your friend, buddy ...
Maybe not so much if you are a stoned Chinese LGBT yak...
The CAD IS a reserve currency. Has been officially for a few years now.
For who, Lichtenstein?
Congo?
hey, don't be ragging on lichtenstein.
i'm willing to bet that their per capita gdp will kick the ass of whatever country you are from
When HOUSING takes a dive and UNEMPLOYMENT rises then I will believe it. Until then its all TRANSITORY
Housing is crashing and burning also. When the Canadian gubmint started handing out a $16,000 "incetnive" to buy a house, it's doomed for an eventual bust. Australia also gave out $16k while the USA handed out $8k to those ambitious houses buyers to spur them on to buy a house for more then twice what it is worth.
It's been a gold mine for realtors the last 12 years across the globe.
However, delay the bust you can but impossible to stop the inevitable cycles of boom and bust.
Please give an example of 1 market outside of the oilsands where housing is 'CRASHING!!1' ?
Calgary/Vancouver/Toronto/Edmonton/Regina/Saskatoon/Winnipeg
Lol. Ya i can start naming random cities and give absolutely ZERO to back it up with.
http://www.thestar.com/business/2015/12/15/average-house-prices-to-edge-...
Bogus Realtor sell-side numbers. Because the low to mid range simply isn't moving and hasn't been for a few years now. So nice try.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1887724/canadian-home-prices-to-fall-40-50-per...
A growing number of investors are betting Canada's frothy property market will nosedive, according to research firm Markit, as low energy prices drag down the country's economic outlook.
Investors are taking out an increasing number of "short" positions on banks and insurers with high exposure to the property market, Markit explained, with these investors expecting share prices to slide. This comes amid record low interest rates in the country— which have been cut twice this year, down to 0.5 percent.
Why investors are shorting Canada's housing markethttp://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-investors-shorting-canadas-housing-063...
Real Estate Bubble: Canadian Housing Market Crash Coming in 2016
http://www.profitconfidential.com/economy/real-estate-bubble-canadian-ho...
You know, the Loonie was at CAD1.60 / USD in 2000, a bit before, and a bit after. it was in that range for quite a few years, no? Canada survived. We will again.
>> a bit before, and a bit after.
The strengthening CAD was masking food inflation for you folks. Us lower 80% US folks have been dealing with food inflation for some time. Now you CAD folks are playing catch up real fast.
Gmac. One word for your intellectual greatness as a Canadian.
Dumbass. Fucking short young time line for you, eh ? Hoser.
Traditionally, for decades, Canadian dollar trades for a dollar and five cents US -
IT WAS THE STRONGER CURRENCY BACKED BY NO DEBT, RESPONSIBLE BANKING, RESTRAINT ON BAY STREET, THE CANADIAN WALL STREET EQUIVALENT, A LOW POPULATION BASE, ABUNDANT NATURAL RESOURCES, ET FUCKING CETERA.
Then, we became America Part Two. Currency got fucked, banking became thieving fuckers like never before, government debt got fucked right up to the fucking moon, Bay Street raped, pillaged, and fucked the market, and government stooges sold our fucking abundant resource base star performers to the fucking Chinese for a pittance in kickbacks.
Wake the fuck up and smell the fucking imported coffee you can't fucking afford, along with the bacon you can no longer buy because it is being exported to keep the teetering balance of trade fully on the side of those who profit by boot fucking you, with a Canadian boot, American style.
You sad, lib tard, Trudeau voting piece of rainbow skittle shitting unicorn fart sucking new age ideal citizen boot fuckee. Bend over farther for your overlords so they can really put it to you with no effort, you fucking Canadian sheeple muppet controlled great unwashed member of the masses.
Most contemporary Canadians are dipshit retarded urbanites living in Toronto, at 8-9 million, Montreal at 5 million or so, and Hongvouver, at about 4 million captive souls who know not one fucking thing about life as a free Canadian.
Good luck tracking down firewood, groceries, and a life in your prisons.
Canada sold off it's birthright to the moneychangers for a lousy bowl of oatmeal, and permanent slavery. Fucking brilliant.
A Less Than Satisfied With The Situation Canadian.
Kill the Hosers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX08OcwEG4Q
or (downvote)
Proud to be a Canadian
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAbisg02JD4
This gets my vote for rant of the day.
I upvoted you but also upvoted the guy you slammed.
Inwards outwards backwords forwards. It's fiat paper. The shiny is what matters for me long term. I bought like mad when our can$ was at par or better. Most of my "junk" silver is a gimme from my dad when a silver dollar was a dollar.
To me real estate is a roof over my head. Up or down makes little difference to me but I got lucky in that i sold my first home at the peak in 2007 and didnt buy again until a few years later when the froth was mostly done.
So what you gonna chuck it and give in? I dont think so. We should get this shit worked out . Go Iclandic an their asses.
I upvoted you but also upvoted the guy you slammed.
Inwards outwards backwords forwards. It's fiat paper. The shiny is what matters for me long term. I bought like mad when our can$ was at par or better. Most of my "junk" silver is a gimme from my dad when a silver dollar was a dollar.
To me real estate is a roof over my head. Up or down makes little difference to me but I got lucky in that i sold my first home at the peak in 2007 and didnt buy again until a few years later when the froth was mostly done. Prices for homes here (ok valley/bc southern interior) continue to go up but I am not banking on it (pun intended).