SASKATOON -- A new report shows that Canadians will be digging deeper into their wallets for the basics next year.
COVID-19 is to blame for the higher than usual annual increase, according to the report, which is a collaborative effort with researchers from universities across the country including the University of Saskatchewan.
The price of meat and fresh vegetables will increase by between 4.5 per cent and 6.6 per cent while bakery items will go up 3.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent.
“Four to five per cent is pretty high. It’s a big jump for people, especially people who have a fixed budget,” said the executive director at CHEP Good Food, Gord Androsoff.
CHEP expects to see more people through the door to buy their products.
They operate a fresh food store at Station 20 West, where those in the neighbourhood can have healthy choices at reasonable prices. They also offer classes on using fresh ingredients to maximize nutritional value as well as gardening.
“We expect demand to increase. It was increasing already,” Androsoff told CTV News.
That increase in people coming to CHEP was due in part to COVID-19 because some customers lost jobs and had less money to spend on food, Androsoff says.
The pandemic is also to blame for driving food prices up because of border closures, processing plants shutting down and lack of workers to harvest crops, according to the report.
In a place like Saskatchewan where fresh produce is limited during the winter, one of the authors says it could be even pricier.
“Our vegetables and fruit are going to be imported from other parts of North America so I think it’s possible that we may see even more than the three to five per cent increase this winter,” says Stuart Smyth, U of S campus lead for the report.
Smyth says food production is vitally important as a basic necessity and that is even more pronounced during a pandemic.
He’d like to see the vaccine for COVID-19 given to those working in the food production industry to ensure it remains safe and so that shutdowns don’t affect the supply.
