The Carney government just dropped a $3.2 billion food security strategy and it’s worth understanding what it actually does.
Right now, only 11 cents of every dollar you spend on groceries reaches the farmer who grew it. Five companies control 80% of the grocery market. And Canada exports billions in agricultural products while turning around and importing processed versions of the same food from the US at a markup.
This plan attacks that problem structurally. $1 billion goes toward food terminals and distribution hubs so independent grocers can buy directly from Canadian farmers, cutting out the middleman. The Competition Bureau gets a funding boost to go after the property control tricks big grocers use to block competitors from moving in nearby. And Farm Credit Canada gets $1 billion for domestic food processing so we stop exporting raw product and importing it back as something more expensive.
The targets are concrete: expand the Ontario Food Terminal by end of year, open two new food terminals and 10 regional food hubs by 2028.
This isn’t a handout to Loblaws. It’s infrastructure to break their stranglehold on the supply chain.
Will it fix your grocery bill overnight? No. But building real competition into the system is how you get lasting price relief, not a rebate that disappears after one quarter.