Food Prices

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

We know that the carbon tax is driving up food prices, by how much? Nobody knows exactly.

So what you’re saying is there’s no way to tell if they’ve gone up more due to a carbon tax or gouging?

The current food prices are putting a strain on families for sure, we can all agree on that. In the long term, we might see even worse outcomes. Some people might not have a choice, they are buying less healthy foods because of the costs. The longer term health of people will definitely decrease as they are forced to consume less healthy foods. Could lead to an increased load on our health care system.

Would the same all be true if we got rid of the tax and retailers kept the prices where they’re at?

[Sylvanfan]

I find myself asking people who have meat and cheese in their cart what kind of job do you have to afford such luxury?

[Reggie Dunlop]

Nothing sparks civil unrest quite like hyperinflation and food shortages. Situations North Americans have largely been spared, historically.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

So what you’re saying is there’s no way to tell if they’ve gone up more due to a carbon tax or gouging?

I suppose we don’t know how much is gouging (if any) and how much is due to the carbon tax. How much of an increase would you be comfortable paying due to the tax?

Would the same all be true if we got rid of the tax and retailers kept the prices where they’re at?

If? Don’t you mean when we get rid of the tax.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

I suppose we don’t know how much is gouging (if any) and how much is due to the carbon tax. How much of an increase would you be comfortable paying due to the tax?



If? Don’t you mean when we get rid of the tax.

Everyone involved is gouging and blaming each other, transportation company's charging crazy fuel surcharges far above the rate of fuel costs, grocery chains charging crazy prices claiming transportation and labor costs, the processors and packers claiming the same, and they all are making record profits.

Meanwhile, the consumers, the farmers/ranchers and small business are struggling.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Everyone involved is gouging and blaming each other, transportation company's charging crazy fuel surcharges far above the rate of fuel costs, grocery chains charging crazy prices claiming transportation and labor costs, the processors and packers claiming the same, and they all are making record profits.

Meanwhile, the consumers, the farmers/ranchers and small business are struggling.

Do you have a source for all this?

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Do you have a source for all this?

Yeah if I wasn't lazy I could put it down for you

But since I am just look at your grocery bill

[gallione11]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

Do you have a source for all this?

I'm in the US with no carbon tax and yet, several regular grocery items have doubled in price in the last few years, from meat to chips to paper products.

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Yeah if I wasn't lazy I could put it down for you

But since I am just look at your grocery bill

That’s what I thought.

Nothing

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

We know that the carbon tax is driving up food prices, by how much? Nobody knows exactly.

The current food prices are putting a strain on families for sure, we can all agree on that. In the long term, we might see even worse outcomes. Some people might not have a choice, they are buying less healthy foods because of the costs. The longer term health of people will definitely decrease as they are forced to consume less healthy foods. Could lead to an increased load on our health care system.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/car...e%20per%20cent.

It's not that the carbon tax has no impact on food prices and inflation. It's just not obvious that it is having a particularly large impact.

The Bank of Canada has estimated that the carbon tax increases inflation by 0.15 per cent. Trevor Tombe, an economist at the University of Calgary who has studied the impact of the carbon price on consumer costs, points to Statistics Canada data that suggests its impact on food prices is less than one per cent.

That's not nothing, and every dollar counts when it comes to the cost of essentials, particularly for those on low incomes.

But concerns about the impact of the carbon tax also tend to ignore the fact that the policy has two parts — a fuel charge collected by the federal government and a rebate that returns 90 per cent of the revenue generated by the levy to Canadian households. (The remaining 10 per cent is directed toward businesses, farmers and Indigenous communities.)

Unlike any number of other federal and provincial policies that might be said to contribute to the cost of food — from corporate taxes to food safety regulations — the federal carbon tax comes with a rebate.

The parliamentary budget officer has consistently found that nearly all households receive more from the rebate than they pay in direct and indirect costs. Only households in the highest income quintile are projected to pay out more than they receive — because they consume more. Repealing the carbon tax could actually leave many Canadians worse off.

[CliffFletcher]

This recent run of food inflation has seen rates spike to 10 per cent last year before declining to 6 per cent this year.

Imagine if we had the internet back in the 70s and early 80s, when annual food inflation rates of 10-20 per cent persisted for more than a decade.

[Nancy]

Food prices have been increasing globally, and this has been largely attributed to supply chain disruptions and increasing energy prices. If anything, Alberta is a beneficiary and not a victim of this situation. If carbon taxes are a factor, they would show up as a one time shock, and not a persistent increase.

[Doctorfever]

https://retail-insider.com/retail-in...-canada-op-ed/

Note that this article is from March, so maybe the feds have more recently completed a study on how the carbon tax impacts food prices.

On April 1, the carbon tax will be set at $65 per metric tonne. We are slowly marching towards a carbon tax of $170 per metric tonne, by 2030, which is more than double what it is today. Yet so far, not one study has looked at how the carbon tax will be impacting food affordability in Canada. Not one.

Also from the link.

According to a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), more than $8 billion will be collected from small business through the carbon tax by the end of fiscal 2023, and as little as $35 million will be given back as credit in the form of programs. Many small businesses, especially family businesses, are in the food industry. In other words, much of the funding is disappearing into Ottawa’s big black public funding box and few understand what the funds collected through the carbon tax are being used for.

Again, according to a recent survey from the CFIB, 56 percent of businesses will have no other choice but to raise prices due to pressures created by the carbon tax

Food prices definitely increasing due to the carbon tax. Nobody knows exactly how much, I’m sure if the government wanted to know they would conduct a study.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

https://retail-insider.com/retail-in...-canada-op-ed/

Note that this article is from March, so maybe the feds have more recently completed a study on how the carbon tax impacts food prices.






Also from the link.




Food prices definitely increasing due to the carbon tax. Nobody knows exactly how much, I’m sure if the government wanted to know they would conduct a study.

Literally 3 posts above you is a story citing separate reports from the Bank of Canada and Trevor Tombe.


Trevor Tombe:

Food prices are especially dampened. At $65 per tonne, we estimate grocery costs for the average household are approximately $2
per month higher in Ontario (and $5 higher in Alberta) as a result.

And within the Trevor Tombe article, he links another study: https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/fu...8/cpp.2022-036

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Doctorfever

We know that the carbon tax is driving up food prices, by how much? Nobody knows exactly.

The current food prices are putting a strain on families for sure, we can all agree on that. In the long term, we might see even worse outcomes. Some people might not have a choice, they are buying less healthy foods because of the costs. The longer term health of people will definitely decrease as they are forced to consume less healthy foods. Could lead to an increased load on our health care system.

Or maybe we just need OPEC to open their taps again and flood the market with cheap oil and ergo cheap fuel and transportation costs. I wouldn’t mind 60 cent/litre gasoline again.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Literally 3 posts above you is a story citing separate reports from the Bank of Canada and Trevor Tombe.


Trevor Tombe:


And within the Trevor Tombe article, he links another study: https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/fu...8/cpp.2022-036

Can you find something a little more vague so that people can just jump to their own conclusions?

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Or maybe we just need OPEC to open their taps again and flood the market with cheap oil and ergo cheap fuel and transportation costs. I wouldn’t mind 60 cent/litre gasoline again.

[chemgear]

https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comm...ada_youtubers/

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...nts-food-banks

'How to get free food in Canada': YouTubers criticized for encouraging international students to use food banks

A growing genre of videos on YouTube and TikTok is angering some Canadians who say international students are being encouraged to abuse food banks in order to get “free groceries.”

“It’s not a place to get free groceries,” Singh said. “I think we need to educate people more that the service is for those who are in greater need. We have to stop this misuse.”

[Doctorfever]

Originally Posted by iggy_oi

Can you find something a little more vague so that people can just jump to their own conclusions?

I like those studies. The kind that have the shopping cart on the top right. Lol

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Or maybe we just need OPEC to open their taps again and flood the market with cheap oil and ergo cheap fuel and transportation costs. I wouldn’t mind 60 cent/litre gasoline again.

I think as long as US producers focus on free cash flow and distributing it to shareholders instead of drilling OPEC will play along.

Although if there's a big recession you think they might try and knife the next generation of offshore producers before they ramp up (eg Guyana).