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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I'm afraid I have to thumb down this article. I saw these pics more than a year ago in a discussion about food prices in northern Canada. All food needs to be flown into those regions.
In most of Canada prices are indeed rising, imported items are about double what they were three years ago. But our exports are getting a huge boost. This sword cuts both ways.
how much for a $20(usd) sack of weed ?
$ 20 US will get you about 5 grams.
Let's not get too excited here folks. I can remember paying $5.00 for a tiny head of iceberg lettuce 25 years ago. This is the economic cycle. Going into a depression, with WCS selling at 8.35 a barrel, in the middle of winter, with fuel and heating costs super high. At least they will get inflation in Canada - that's what the central banks want, isn't it?
The dollar will probably bottom at 0.65, at least it has before. And if the BOC tries to tell people that inflation in Canada is only 2% then I think there will be a revolution up there as well.
Let them eat cake.
Real easy way to save money on some of this stuff. Don't buy it.
the prices are high, but the prices noted like way up north where there are no roads for transport, well that's a bit of bullshit isn't it.
My silver is holding up well, got it when dollar was near par, also did a few tricks like buy fast moving stocks that are listed in both currencies, but in one, sell in the other for more cheap dollars. norbits gambit...
SO... even though silver went down in US dollars still a decent inflation hedge, sure I could have bought US dollars but I thought they can go bust at ANY time... Silver is here to stay.
Also CDN goldminers sell a product in US dollars, but has costs in CAD , so there's a good deal too. Gold is over 1600CAD now
Canadians for the most part live in la la land,,, when they quote gold price , it's in US dollars.. they have no sense that they are no better than India, Iran, Venezuela. they think the military is powerful, but do not realize that Lebanon has a more powerful military and more gold, or even Pakistan, Sweden, etc. Canadians have their heads up their arse.
Also they think they are friendly when really they are not, they are aloof and rather stare at you than say hello.
My gold and bitcoin are acting as perfect hedges too.
Ground Black Pepper @ Giant Tiger is $3.00 for same size container as Club House.
The article is misleading you with many images from Far northern regions. In the winter some of these places are only accessible via airplane / dogsled.
Their prices are usually 3 - 4 times the price that 95% of the population pays.
check food and gas prices in hawaii
Wait, wait, wait but your country exports "Moral Highground" loud & pride, right? That got to be worth something.
I love when these articles come out about Canada especially the comments. For fuck sakes we are just like Americans......except smarter. lol
Canada is where the American Colonial British loyalists ran off to while many of my ancesters stayed to fight and create their own country. The major difference between most old(meaning your ancestery is intact to the Colonial beginnings) Canadians and old Americans is courage. Canadians cling to the state for assurances. Real Americans, fight to make their own. That's the difference between the two people. Although, it's too bad we have let in so many cowards since then.
I have many ancesters whom fought the British in the Revolutionary War, again in the War of 1812, and more who fought for the same anti big government ideals during the War of Northern Agression. True Americans will kick ass to be free. But, Canadians? Not so much. They'd rather suck their Queen's cock I guess.
Maybe you have a point. I'm not brave enough to fight for my .gov
what are you talking about? The loyalists were educated and started new universities in Canada...
the folks who fought the british were hick farmers.
You think you are FREE? ... you are ruled by Zionists
don't give us this shit about freedom and USA.. they don't belong in the same sentence
Seems both countries are just a couple of floaters fearing the flush to... infinity and beyond!
Appears those old fashioned and non-PC activities, such as canning food you grow, hunting, and trapping (gasp!) will be making a comeback. More Liberal delusions evaporating and old wisdom return quickly in its place.
Happy hunting!
My thoughts exactly ! Americans would be wise to begin their journey into learning these traditonal skills ASAP.
I thought libtards banned all that stuff
So long Canada, we hardly knew ye.
Canada will prob hyperinflate first before USA but the good thing is there is a lot of land and chicken and beef, root veggies can be planted... people will get by... you are never more than 50 km from farms or soon to be farms.
Unlike in USA... there will be killing, mayhem, general chaos.
A Canadian with a gun is more likely to admire the gun you have and have a chat about it and tell some hunting stories.
We should build a wall to keep Americans out, they are dangerous...
I don't know about you all but feeding a family of 5 quality food day in and day out is just about to fucking break me.
I'm waiting for the helicopter money and the bank bail outs, I am sure they will let us defer mortgage payments.
Chopper dollars from the sky
A thousand silver dollars high
Yeah it definitely sucks. Went into Loblaws after a workout to buy blueberries for my morning oatmeal...looked at the price and turned right around.
And healthy food was always more expensive than the high fructose crap at the fast food shops...now it will get even more redonkulous.
Just have to hang tough and ride it out until the Fed goes all-in...then commodities and C$ will recover. Right?
Dear ZeroHedge:
Unpin this alarmist, misleading article. Look up Nunavut on a map dipshitz! It's in the fucking arctic! This is what food prices ALWAYS look like there.
I live in Ontario, and today I bought a 99 cent avocado, a 99 cent mango, a 2 dollar pineapple, and a 10 lb bag of onions for 2 dollars.
Here's a link to food prices for 99% of Canada:
http://www.nofrills.ca/en_CA/flyers.pageview.banner@NOFR.storenum@3123.w...
it's always cheap when it's rotten and ready to be thrown out
not in Nunavut.
You know, the stupid fucking Americans don't want to know the truth. They just love hard luck stories about Canada. That's the only way they can justify their decaying existence.
yes, we know, nice to have some international press on Canada so we can feel someone cares or laughs at us
Hey.
We ridicule canada because we care.
HEY! Suckers!Canada still Canada!
Better than others Shit Countries of ANGLO_ AMERICAN_EMPIRE.
“Pardon my Language usage”...
If you were living in Canada, you would also need to say this in French
No. Forced bilingualism in Canada is a bullshit kabuki fight.
What were the prices two years ago in Nunavut?
not sure, but the salaries for the gov there are about $120,000 year... so after expenses like $50,000 in the south
Canadian constitution allow only 33% percent tax on your salary.
The rest is just social payment; see, social programs has to come from somewhere: NO?
Still better country then others, for HUMANS…
Canadian constitution is a fiction.
The BNA Act reserved the powers of individual taxation for the provinces.
If you go to Publix in Tampa Bay area the prices are pretty high, even in US dollars.
Organic cucumbers were $3 per at the Jupiter Publix just across the state from you 2 weeks ago when I was down there. As for regular cauliflower, it was $4/head. Maybe Publix is trying to make the Canadian tourists feel at home.
Halp us Trudeau, halp us! ;-)
Oh the prior bragging on parity with USD. We all going to experience this inflation after deflation eventually.. Canada has experienced many benefits knowing Americans will foot their defense bills. Fuck em. Nice People. But Fuck em and all freeloader socialsts.
oh ya? well we can build factories and have a trade advantage... you buy all your shit from mexico or china anyway..
PLUS... you can't export anything cause your dollar is too high... therefore more unemployment... more civil unrest... more goons with guns...
Eventually USD will go to zero... people with no jobs will revolt, then you will be asking for bags of rice from China, wheat from Canada, and veggies from Russia.
North Korea and Iran may have some pity and pitch you a few toss offs.
Maybe on the coasts, but not in my area. We grow most of our own stuff around here. Besides, I have hundreds of pounds of wheat, rice, beans, corn, etc stored away. And I have a few different ways to process and cook it all. More and more people are doing what I've done every day.
JFC, who the fuck eats cucumber and broccoli for fuck sakes and keeps paying the price?
Eating salad and overpriced commodities is a fucking luxury. You’re better off eating anything you can trap or shoot in your backyard.
Angus, play nice, or you'll get haggis and rice.
Maybe, cant say im fond of either snail or cat meat though
Funny. You're not French, are you?
Ach! These are prices in NUNAVUT, which is Eskimo for "The Fucking Moon". Talk to me again when Frosted Fucking Flakes costs 15 bucks in Toronto.