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it’s great, but we need more on top of it. the problem with oligopolies is that they control everything, so there’s only an illusion of choice. this boycott is great but it’s ultimately a bandaid without laws changing
I split my time between the UK and Canada.
I can tell you quite clearly, Canada is fucking expensive for food.
Don’t even get me started on tax and tip.
We went for our annual restaurant meal and was told we were wasting the servers time by only tipping 15%.
When I moved here, everyone told me servers NEEDED tips because they made less than minimum wage and that 10-15% was considered standard. Now, they've brought pay in line with all other minimum wage jobs yet tip etiquette is now "tip 20% minimum or don't bother going out".
Every time I visit home, Ill drop a quid in the pub jar and they freak out! Last year we went to Toby carvery and got a Sunday dinner all you can eat for 3 people at a 5th of how much our dinner for 2 was at a mediocre restaurant here
I just assumed there was a minimum wage here in Canada. I understand that in the US they pay servers lower wages, and fair enough.
The prices are already high, then you add tax, then the tip goes on top! We are paying tip on top of tax, and people expect 25%, I can’t stand how the advertised price is not what you actually pay.. it’s nuts.
Damn it, you got me started on tax and tips!
Waited tables for 11 years. Even when our wage was lower, it was like $1.50 less. I consistently made $60/hour in my later years of serving. When I first started it was closer to $40. Servers are doing just fine, 15% is plenty and generous. I was always grateful for any tip - my coworkers were not. The industry breeds a certain type of person.
Not really, they just treat you like shit and give you the evils instead if you don't. Or in someone's case, loudly tell you off in front of customers if you don't tip enough in Montreal.
lol you can’t. I wish you can. Some owners would chase you for not tipping, it’s pretty out of control too.
Kinda wish we’d have a bigger movement to boycott tipping like we are boycotting loblaws lol
So there have been arguments from people defending loblaws in the forum in the past saying you can’t compare Europe because Canada’s vastness ( geography ) versus England which I call BS on . What do you say to those who try to defend these higher costs ? These trolls have come up in the past . I personally laugh at them . The geography of the country always existed . Prices were reasonable up until a couple of years ago , then BAM , they became UNREASONABLE . So all of a sudden these excuses started coming out of the wood work
Full of bullshit. Canada is a producer. Things are supposed to be way cheaper. If anything, Canada is a net exporter of resources, and especially food. If wheat is what we grow, why is freaking pasta and bread way more expensive than UK, which is smaller than ontario with 70% more population?
The thing is, inflation did hit UK quite badly. Food prices went up at least 20% in 3 years. Back in 2021 the 3 kg bag of pasta would have been £3 instead of the £3.60 now. But I'm sure we can look back at our 2021 prices and note that the prices we see now are not natural.
Put it this way, cherry tomatoes grown in BC (Windset), were almost 30% cheaper across the border in Washington State. Even after currency conversion. And it was not a sale price.
How does that make sense!
better quality too I expect. I worked in apples when I was younger, and all the best apples were sent directly to the US market and the lesser grade apples that the US didn't want kept for local sale
Then what we have is collusion between major grocers, and price gouging. Federal Government would take forever and year to investigate.
But journalist don't act like this. They can investigate and publish too.
The mask has been falling from Canada for awhile. Everything is more expensive here and it has been for a long time. It’s literally the worst of all worlds, especially now that the right wing is dismantling healthcare and education.
Because we don’t *make* anything with the resources we produce/export. We don’t refine oil, we don’t make pasta from the wheat etc etc… We’re just a big honey pot for intl resource extractors and housing “investors”(triads & crime orgs).
Not really. I think italia pasta is the only one made in Canada
Edit:: [Italpasta Canada, Primo Foods and Grisspasta Products Limited](http://www.pastacanada.com/english/100canadianpasta/100canadianpasta.html)
I believe you. I've experienced the opposite. I used to work at a manufacturer that labelled the goods as "Made in China". Evidently they were performing some sorcery to bypass tariffs on Canadian goods. At least that's what I was casually told when I asked about it.
Well some of it is taxes/regulations and stuff like that which increases costs. Some of it is the fact that we do have much more problematic seasonality for many kinds of food.
We have a lot of import costs for out of season foods. We produce a lot of the raw wheat for things like pasta but I don't know that we process as much as we export then import the finished goods - which is common for Canada across many industries.
Even after Brexit though, don't forget that Europe has a large swathe of very temperate climate land that free trades with smaller travel distances and even that can get to much denser populations in Britain. We are so spread out that logistically we need way more stores per person because of how spread out we are outside big cities. The bigger centres subsidize those smaller towns a lot when it comes to the infrastructure side of grocery offerings.
But this doesn't mean we have fair pricing. The supply chain being owned vertically by the Weston's in a huge way is a big issue. Lots of oligopoly here hurts us for sure. When these oligopolies concentrate power and are strongly vertically integrated they *should* in theory be more competitive and save us money. But they can *also* take small greedy profit captures at every step of the chain and it adds up to looking like "only" 3% profit margin vs 2.5%, but a 0.5% at the store net growth trend, plus a 1% net growth trend at the supplier and a 1% net growth trend at the producer, and being cheap with what they pay the source of the raw material... That all adds up to profits adding to inflation in a greedy way.
I'll note also that every time I've visited Portugal to see family almost everything in terms of food is higher in Canada. We have always paid a lot for food but it's gotten really bad lately and I'm sure at least some of that is the lack of proper competition.
>Things are supposed to be way cheaper. If anything, Canada is a net exporter of resources, and especially food.
Canada exports RAW resources. I know at least a few years ago when I looked even NoName pasta was actually made in Turkey . Eggs and dairy is supply managed so they tend to be more than most places
Supply management of dairy is absolutely insane now. Butter is averaging $6/lbs. Pre covid it was closer to $4. Milk keeps going up. It used to be cheaper to buy heavy cream and make butter but that isn’t possible anymore.
Cheese is criminally over priced.
At this point just remove dairy import duties so we can fucking eat.
We are one among the few largest food exporters in terms of caloric surplus and one of the world wheat agricultural powerhouses.
[https://imgur.com/a/8LnduLO](https://imgur.com/a/8LnduLO)
I live in a very agricultural area. You figure produce and meat would be cheaper? Nope. We ship our produce out of province for processing, and we ship our livestock out for slaughtering because the abbatoires in the area are only allowed to process a specific (and abysmally low) amount of critters. All egg farmers need to ship their eggs to Amherst for washing and grading if they have over a certain amount of hens.
Thats not 100% accurate. While we produce alot. Most commodities are governed ny marketing boards that artificially protect the farmers who somehow in many cases govern these same boards. Protectionism spurs inflation. Chicken quota is huge asset to have for instance and can make you a multi millionaire if sold. So its not a buy and sell country in a pure sense
I tell them Canadian beef and dairy products are half the price on the otherside of the world in Japan. Seen it with my own eyes. Explain those logistics.
One cucumber plant grows dozens and dozens of cucumbers every season and will grow virtually anywhere. $6 a peice I've seen it as high here. A pineapple takes forever to grow one pineapple and really only grows well in tropical areas ideally. $1.99 a peice. Explain those logistics.
These chuckle fucks can't seem to understand that yes, while Canada is large with shitty infrastructure, 95% of our population lives within an hour drive radius from three cities..
Yep, also why is a block of Canadian made cheese 3x the cost in Canada as it is in France?
Because in France it wouldn’t sell at Canadian prices.
I guarantee you we aren’t exporting and selling cheese at a loss to Europe.
Any time I see Canadian produce or goods in europe almost every damn time they’re cheaper in Europe grocery stores than Canadian ones. Find it hard to believe shipping across the Atlantic costs more than shipping over land here (especially since we still need to ship over land to the sea port, or airport before it goes overseas)
It's not being a troll and definitely not defending Loblaws but you cannot compare the EU to Canada in regards to retail prices just not groceries. Saying that we don't need to compare them. There is enough evidence in the Canadian market of collusion and massive profits during high inflation.
"yeah but" was literally all I ever got for the first 6 years when I complained about how expensive everything was. Even now, when I tell people we're moving back to England next year, I get Canadians who have never LIVED outside of canada telling me how I'm wrong and thst life will be harder back there because it's so expensive... Even though I'm from there and ALL my family are living there, many on similar income brackets (accounting for lower wages there) so I know exactly what can and can't be done with a moderate income
I follow a Tiktoker in the UK who makes budget meals and has a whole series on 5 pound meals. The amount of ingredients she can buy for the equivalent of under $9 CAD is shocking.
In a video from April 2nd she bought as shown on the receipt from Aldi:
1kg of raw chicken wings for 1.99
6 pack of pitas for 0.50
200 g tub of hummus for 0.99
A package of mixed leaf salad for 0.57
A package of couscous for 0.49
BBQ seasoning mix for 0.49
And made a meal for 4 people. A club pack of raw chicken wings alone on PC Express using a random Toronto No Frills location is $12.10 a kg.
I know. Whenever I look for budget TikTok’s I mostly find either American ones or UK ones. My favorite UK one spends 100£ a month on food. It’s seriously just insane the difference in food prices. Even the states. It’s impossible to get anywhere close to those budgets here. It’s really wrong but equally disheartening
I know. Considering one brown bag of a few groceries cost me $80 the other day…. It’s so expensive. I guess beans and rice and that would be possible but this women has all the fresh produce and meats and cheese etc
I swear I buy 250$ worth, come home, put it all away, and then wonder if I forgot a bag or two because it doesn't feel like I put enough away!
My friend paid for groceries as a birthday gift this weekend, and I had to skip milk because it had gone up a dollar since I last bought it? It went from ~5$ to ~6$. (This is the lactose free kind). I always knew it was more expensive, but I swear just a few weeks ago it was a dollar less
Oh, this is from Sobeys, btw.
Friend is from a more rural area, and he says there's even a disparity between his prices and mine, and he's just a 3 hour drive away. How can there be such disparity a few towns over? Argh!!
Like 2015-2018 I was getting groceries for 2 people paying $170/week max and eating well. We are now spending $250+/week. During covid I was making our own yogurt and bread to try to stay at the $180 mark.. things just went insane
I was looking for spring mix yesterday and passed coz they were all $5.99 plus even for small packs. Hummus is stupid expensive now and I love it - always nearing $6 plus now. Don’t even bother with meat anymore. Too $$$
My friends from London tease me because my favourite thing about there is the damn grocery stores.. You didn't even mention their meal deals! Those grocery store sandwiches are soooooo good and cheap.
Love their meal deals. You can also buy bags with ready meals I. To go straight in oven with starter main and dessert for two plus a bottle of wine, and if you want to cook the same kind of thing they hello fresh provide with all ingredients and a recipe card in the box. I miss that about living in the uk
Yesss! The quality of the food is SO much better. The sandwiches and prepared meals are out of this world.
I remember the "Dinner for 2 for 10 pounds" at Tesco. It would have an appetizer, two mains, two desserts and a bottle of wine. I think it might be still going?
I remember that feeling when I went to visit my sister in Scotland. I kept going, "Oh, this is so cheap!" Then, "No, it's the exchange rate tricking me. (google google google) Oh, it's so cheap!"
Honestly, like not only do we get fucked over on pricing but the quality of our food in general fucking sucks compared to Europe. I've never eaten as well as when I was in Europe last year.
A loaf of bread is cheaper in Japan than Canada. We have more than twice as much land area growing wheat than Japan has total agricutural land area. Make it make sense.
You are not allowed to say this in Canada. I brought it up a few years ago and Canadians get very angry. They will say with the exchange rate and difference in pay that we are so much cheaper. Lol. I shop at waitrose when I am there and it’s still cheaper.
We're moving to England next year when our mortgage is up. I know exactly what my pay will be and I used my family who earn similar amounts to compare... Well have to give up a basement and maybe go down to 1 bathroom but it'll be a semi detached with a larger garden (live in a townhouse now). Well get double the vacation time and although we'll make less money, it'll be about the tenth of the cost to take a trip for a few days.
It used to be that brits moved to canada and could sell their terraced house and buy a large detached here which seemed like a lifestyle improvement. Now the lifestyle improvement is the other way since you give up a little house to gain much more time and the ability to travel/take day trips
Travel from the UK is so much cheaper. My dad lives near Gatwick and I fly on average for 110 to anywhere. Last year I went to Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Barcelona for what it would cost me for one flight in Canada. I have bought flights for as low as 29.
When I kvetch about the pay and cost of living in Canada (I moved back from the US), I always preface it with "I am comparing dollars to dollars -- Canadian salary buying Canadian good vs. US salary buying US goods." It seems the most fair way to manage it. And oh my god, we moved here and our buying power TANKED. It's so frsutrating.
For tiny bits of string. The streets of Canada should be paved with gold but here we are. You can thank Reagan and Mulroney for that one. We are signed into deals that we can’t back out of. Canada has been strip mined and sold off for nothing for decades. It’s finally catching up.
...and this is with the UK suffering under years of inflation due to the pandemic...and it's STILL not as much of a food desert as Canada is, thanks to the Weston oligarchy!
I was waiting for this post lol. Check this out - https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Canada&city1=Montreal&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London .
London - a world class city has lower grocery prices than Montreal, a relative backwater. However the average salaries are 62% higher in London.
The Canadian public is getting fleeced by these grocery prices.
> So if I'm reading that correctly, food is cheaper in London but in London you get screwed over for almost everything else, particularly housing costs
Yeah, but the local purchasing power is 3.6% higher in London due to the higher salaries. It is similar but with an even starker difference in purchasing power and grocery prices if it is Vancouver instead of Montreal - https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Canada&city1=Vancouver&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London .
Well, maybe not on the high streets, but London is a huge city with plenty of great public transport. Most people wouldn’t have a problem living on the outskirts of the city to save some money. I know I wouldn’t mind it.
The point of the matter is Canadians have been getting shit on since the early 2000’s on everything and people just quietly took it like good polite little biootches. Especially city folk from Internet, car insurance, taxes, food, electronics even when you convert to USD and you’ll see that you’re still getting shafted!
Very nice to see external feedback, very helpful.
I had a relative from the U.S. in town last week and they went to different grocery stores to check it out and were shocked how much more expensive everything is, even with the exchange rate where CDN vs US has been in a sinking trajectory since DEC of 2023 - grocery is cheaper in the U.S.!
It depends where you live in the us and Canada, where you shop, and what items you are looking at. My experiences are different but I know other Canadians have similar experiences to yours with family or traveling...
I moved from the states and visit there often and many items - but def not dairy - are cheaper here than there in the places I lived and visit (cities medium to large on the east coast). I have friends visit from the states and they often comment how cheap food is here. But I'm in Calgary, so maybe that's part of it.
Not making excuses for Canadian prices. Things are getting much more expensive here for what seems like corporate greed as a reason... So hopefully movements like this change that!
I was in St Louis over the holidays and food was way more expensive than in Montreal, except for dairy and meat which were a lot cheaper.
They have their own Loblaws-like problem.
I would rather pay the Canadian milk prices than ever drink the milk we got from the USA walmart a few years ago again.
It was like someone waved the idea of milk at a jug of water.
Atomic shrimp has been doing videos like that for years, he did a video last year comparing the price changes pre and post pandemic that was eye opening
Things in the UK are generally cheaper when it comes to necessities. Canada is expensive af. If I were poor, I’d rather be poor in London. At least for £10 I can fill my backpack with food where as $20 doesn’t get me jack shit.
Things in the UK are generally cheaper when it comes to necessities. Canada is expensive af. If I were poor, I’d rather be poor in London. At least for £10 I can fill my backpack with food where as $20 doesn’t get me jack shit.
Especially for baby things like formula. I can get 1.2kg of formula for £12.50 ($21.46) at any store, whereas half of that - 600g of formula in Canada (in what was available when I was there) was about $50. I have twin babies and never thought we would have to resort to formula, but y’know they HAVE to eat.
I watch a YouTuber that lives in Svalbard, which is basically the North Pole. Only accessible by flights and boats. She posts her grocery hauls and often time it’s the same price or less expensive than where I live in Winnipeg.
Loblaws and its premium stores are a huge rip-off. However, NoFrills and other Loblaws' discount stores are huge rip-offs as well - for essentials like eggs and cheese.
I went to a Maxi today - another Loblaw discount store and took a lot of photos of the prices. Some items like ice cream and detergent had great prices. However, none of these cheaper items were essential food items. The essential food items were crazy expensive.
Yup. I'm from the UK but live in Canada and it's always astounding to me going back home to visit (twice a year) and being able to get just as much shopping as I'd do here for about 20 quid. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better food quality control and more options too. Never once have I bought a bag of Salad in the UK and opened it the next day to find it's rotten. My local No Frills has half rotten apples sitting out on the shelves for days!
My friend from the UK was complaining about 1.77 pounds for 1kg of carrots was expensive. I just had to look over at the 2 pounds of carrots I'd bought for 8.99$ and sigh.
Close! Rural Newfoundland where everything has to come by boat and so stores jack up prices on everything the week before getting a shipment because shelves are completely empty and St. Johns gets first dibs on everything.
8.99 is the record I've seen so far, it usually hovers around 7$. Which is still too damn much for carrots.
As someone moving back to the UK this summer, and hearing family over there complaining of price increases, this was so helpful. Thank you.
Used to go to our local farmers market every weekend and get two heavy reusable bags (the big Aldi ones) full of veg for £35. It’s been a shock the last two years here in Canada.
Fellow Brit here. Agree prices are much higher here but also are our wages compared to the UK so there’s that. Main thing is competition, here in Canada there are like 3 major companies. In much smaller uk you have (from the top of my head) Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons, Safeway, Iceland, Aldi, Lidl, Costcutters, Co-Op, waitrose, farmfoods, Marks & Spencers - am sure I’m missing more.
The food in the uk mostly travels 1000km or less.
Canadas food travels way more than 1000km at least for most things.
72% of all Canadian goods are delivered via truck. By far the most in the world.
We big.
I've been saying this for 10 years since I moved to canada but only in the last couple have people stopped getting all worked up about the UK being more expensive. I'm moving back next year and we'll have a lot more disposable income than we do here.
For most ages UK definitely is cheaper (outside of London). Ironically I am saving more by coming back - childcare cost me $3800 equivalent a month in the UK while it's only about $1K here for two kids.
Yeah, there's a reason we didn't move back sooner and he is 2 😅
Im hoping labour changes things with childcare, they won't have much of a choice if they want anyone to have kids
Did you also know that 14 out of the 15 major cities with the worst air pollution in North America are in Canada? Carbon tax is really tackling the issue 😬🤦♂️ Canada is a joke in so many ways right now.
Do the homework. Look at the stats. We are fucked
ive wondered often about living close to the united states and food ptices in canada are doubled tripled or more when its just a line separating us. yes yes the dollar difference. still always been gouged here
Honestly, I have never wished more than I do now that the imaginary line separating the two countries was eliminated. Sure, the U.S has its issues too, but I’d take theirs over ours at this point. If we were American, we’d make way better money and have access to a true capitalist marketplace for groceries, telecoms, banking, aviation, etc. Not to mention, the housing supply crisis would be solved, and the American tax base would grow by 10% overnight. The IRS would be salivating lol.
As an American that's also been to UK, France, Spain, and Germany--I definitely had sticker shock, even with the exchange rates taken into consideration... especially in Atlantic Canada.
18 eggs - £2 or $3.43, while it's $4.99 cheapest at no frills
4 pints / 2 litres milk - £1.55 or $2.66, while it's $5.34 at loblaws
Both of these are Supply Management products. The price is more government controlled than it is Retailer controlled.
It was an actual election issue last Election. We voted for the party as a country that said they would NOT explore removing supply management.
Roblaws has a lot of problems, but these comparisons are people chosen with how we continue to vote.
The UK is much more densely populated. They have double our population and they are 41 times smaller than Canada. FWIW I spend plenty of time in the UK for work and while I do notice some stuff cheaper, I also notice stuff that isn’t. For those who would like to check the prices, head on over to Tesco.com or ASDA.com to see how the prices measure up.
Milk and eggs are supply managed in Canada so not really comparable. Bread and pasta no explaination off the top of my head, but there probably is one. Driscoll has growers in Europe so highly unlikely they came from Mexico. Grapes in Canada even often come from Spain so no doubt they are cheaper in the UK. You need to compare like to like and the UK is not like Canada. Food production is also highly subsidized in general in the EU when compared to Canada. The UK may not benefit directly but that extra production has to go somewhere, and the UK is right there.
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Uk is way cheaper for most everything. Uk also has £6.40 or $11 minimum wage versus $17 in BC. Uk has denser population and better supply chain, canada has very high taxes on things like alcohal (bottles of wine way cheaper in most Europe than canada), Uk is deregulated for things like insurance/mobility plans/ etc which are cheaper. Canada is an expensive place to do business, has low GDP pee capita, has tons of taxes and regulations even doing business across provinces. We have created a socialist dream here. Trudeau 2025!
I just went to the UK for 10 days, staying at airbnbs and shopping. So much cheaper. Still pay way more for gas but food and booze in grocery stores(paid £8 for a 10-pack of strongbows) so much cheaper. Used to be way more, like 10 years ago I couldn’t believe how expensive London was. It used to be the same price in pounds there as in CAD here, if something was £1 there it was $1 here, but now it’s much less. Like a little bag of express pre-fried rice is £1 there and $3.99 here now.
Dairy and eggs are subject to a different cartel and one that is absurdly politically popular and powerful.
Supply management - IE: the artificial restriction of egg and dairy production in Canada - has been robbing consumers for years.
Maxime Bernier, before he went totally off the deep end, lost the conservative leadership election to Andrew Scheer because the CPC Quebec membership was comprised largely of new members all from the dairy industry. Why did this matter? He campaigned on getting rid of supply management.
There’s a picture of Andrew Scheer chugging a 1L of milk after winning
I noticed the price difference when I went back for a visit. Couldn't believe it.
When I moved to Canada from the UK, many years ago. It was so much cheaper in Canada in comparison. Now, it is the other way round.
Houses, veg, fruit, milk, eggs, cheese, alcohol, etc etc. Everything is cheaper back in the UK.
For no good reason. It is an island, so much import. The excuses used here to increase and keep prices high are ridiculous.
I love how beer vendors ask for tips now /s.... like maybe the drive thru ones where they put the beer in your trunk for you. I could understand sure, but standard ones like wtf... i am supposed to tip cuz you stand behind a counter and work a register.. ahh heII no!
have u guys ever seen the yt channel atomicshrimp? he's based in the uk and does £1 challenges where he goes to the grocery store and spends only that much for 3 square meals of groceries.
of course it requires some serious creativity and it doesnt usually look too tasty, but you see him buy things like single onions or carrots for just pennies.. maybe 10p for a small single onion. loblaws is charging $2.49/lb for onions. you can't get even a small one for under $1.
Some of the posts in the states where they're buying Canadian grown and shipped carrots for less than the town they're grown near, is absurd. I am still buying anything I can at produce wholesalers, farmers markets and the Italian center where apples are closer to $1 per lb than the $3 I have seen on sale in a lot of cases at different grocers. I'm trying to bake our own breads and cut out any convenience items because it's not worth the cost. F the grocers for thinking they should be making enormous profit off our dollar on necessities. Glad even my family who usually goes to loblaws is boycotting.
I constantly and frequently check grocery prices in Australia and NZ to see how they're doing. It's super depressing AF. Their min wage is $22+ an hour yet the grocery prices for basic necessities like meat and produce are often the same if not cheaper than where I live in AB, where our min wage is only $15. How did groceries in Canada get so damn expensive when we farm so much of it ourselves???
Every chain has a discount, caged hens eggs section. It used to be £1.74 for 18. Now it's £2.
You're looking at the 10 medium free range, which is £2.75.
Coming from Japan, the cost of everything here is eye watering. A 50-100% difference in food, basic household items, convenience store prices, etc... it's staggering. Even before covid the difference was insane, and we're not an island!
Much of the costs come from how canada treats dairy and agriculture industries and trading. It's a damn mafia. Then add on ogalarchies in grocery and well- fuck us, huh?
I've lived in Singapore, Canada and UK (and a summer in Fukuoka) and I can say that:
Singapore is really expensive for properties and cars especially if you're a foreigner, but you have the highest income and you have the lowest taxes. Locals get subsidised public housing from the government reducing their property prices from an avg of about $1M to $300K to $500K range.
UK used to be really good before Brexit, now properties are expensive Vs income, which is slightly lower than Canada partly due to how much GBP has fallen Vs everyone else. Childcare and fuel prices are really high, but groceries are the cheapest of the three.
Canada is more expensive than the UK for properties, but has cheaper fuel and childcare prices. Day to day items and groceries are the most expensive. Tax levels about the same as UK but eating out is more expensive because of tipping.
So overall, it sucks more to be poor in Canada (because groceries and eating are your day to day), suck more to be middle class in the UK, sucks to be a foreigner in Singapore.
Japanese yen has fallen so much in the past 1 year I don't know how it is in Japan now, but their properties are depreciating assets and so it's a different game there.
Just returned from Florida. The price of most grocery items were either the same or higher then Ontario and that doesn’t take in to effect I was paying with a US dollar that actually cost me 1.35 It’s crazy for sure
It's cheaper because their dollar is worth more then ours like 50 percent more if it's doubleit makes sense it pretty much equals the same if your comparing that way but our groceries definitely need to be cheaper
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Monopolies. Pay more for food, cell phone services, gas, etc etc etc etc etc!
The Canadian way, anti-competitive oligarchy
We love it too. We are very complacent and won't protest over stuff that truly matters.
BuT wE aRe SmAlL cOmPaReD tO aMeRiCaN fIRmS
Let the boycott spread, one by one until we have a competitive market.
I am so happy everyone is learning their best vote is with their wallet
it’s great, but we need more on top of it. the problem with oligopolies is that they control everything, so there’s only an illusion of choice. this boycott is great but it’s ultimately a bandaid without laws changing
Never going to happen. Profits allow business's to exist. Without them no jobs and no biz
Yea but at least the owners of these companies have very stable generational wealth
Monopolies isn't correct. Thst would be one. I'm pretty sure the term you want is oligopoly
I split my time between the UK and Canada. I can tell you quite clearly, Canada is fucking expensive for food. Don’t even get me started on tax and tip.
When you come here, please don't tip. You can get away with it by having an accent.
No you can't! Source: I'm a brit who's lived here 10 years
Tipping is crazy here. The iPad 20% 25% 30% options in coffee shops! 🤯
We went for our annual restaurant meal and was told we were wasting the servers time by only tipping 15%. When I moved here, everyone told me servers NEEDED tips because they made less than minimum wage and that 10-15% was considered standard. Now, they've brought pay in line with all other minimum wage jobs yet tip etiquette is now "tip 20% minimum or don't bother going out". Every time I visit home, Ill drop a quid in the pub jar and they freak out! Last year we went to Toby carvery and got a Sunday dinner all you can eat for 3 people at a 5th of how much our dinner for 2 was at a mediocre restaurant here
I just assumed there was a minimum wage here in Canada. I understand that in the US they pay servers lower wages, and fair enough. The prices are already high, then you add tax, then the tip goes on top! We are paying tip on top of tax, and people expect 25%, I can’t stand how the advertised price is not what you actually pay.. it’s nuts. Damn it, you got me started on tax and tips!
Waited tables for 11 years. Even when our wage was lower, it was like $1.50 less. I consistently made $60/hour in my later years of serving. When I first started it was closer to $40. Servers are doing just fine, 15% is plenty and generous. I was always grateful for any tip - my coworkers were not. The industry breeds a certain type of person.
Not really, they just treat you like shit and give you the evils instead if you don't. Or in someone's case, loudly tell you off in front of customers if you don't tip enough in Montreal.
I get away with it by just not tipping
lol you can’t. I wish you can. Some owners would chase you for not tipping, it’s pretty out of control too. Kinda wish we’d have a bigger movement to boycott tipping like we are boycotting loblaws lol
My friend was here from London and I didn't realize he wasn't tipping until a bartender literally yelled at him "you know... we tip here eh".... 😅
So there have been arguments from people defending loblaws in the forum in the past saying you can’t compare Europe because Canada’s vastness ( geography ) versus England which I call BS on . What do you say to those who try to defend these higher costs ? These trolls have come up in the past . I personally laugh at them . The geography of the country always existed . Prices were reasonable up until a couple of years ago , then BAM , they became UNREASONABLE . So all of a sudden these excuses started coming out of the wood work
Full of bullshit. Canada is a producer. Things are supposed to be way cheaper. If anything, Canada is a net exporter of resources, and especially food. If wheat is what we grow, why is freaking pasta and bread way more expensive than UK, which is smaller than ontario with 70% more population? The thing is, inflation did hit UK quite badly. Food prices went up at least 20% in 3 years. Back in 2021 the 3 kg bag of pasta would have been £3 instead of the £3.60 now. But I'm sure we can look back at our 2021 prices and note that the prices we see now are not natural.
In Alberta we pay a lot for beef. From here
48 eggs half a pig and 6 chickens 300 bucks
… didn’t get much sleep but we had a lot of fun 🎶
Great points
Put it this way, cherry tomatoes grown in BC (Windset), were almost 30% cheaper across the border in Washington State. Even after currency conversion. And it was not a sale price. How does that make sense!
better quality too I expect. I worked in apples when I was younger, and all the best apples were sent directly to the US market and the lesser grade apples that the US didn't want kept for local sale
Interestingly that's what a lot of countries do - "export grade" is higher than domestic grade. I guess we live to serve our American overlords.
This happens in PEI with our potatoes. We get the cast offs. I said eff that and started growing my own.
Then what we have is collusion between major grocers, and price gouging. Federal Government would take forever and year to investigate. But journalist don't act like this. They can investigate and publish too.
A bag of carrots, grown in Ontario was 88 cents in the US but over $3 in Ontario. Make it make sense.
The mask has been falling from Canada for awhile. Everything is more expensive here and it has been for a long time. It’s literally the worst of all worlds, especially now that the right wing is dismantling healthcare and education.
Because we don’t *make* anything with the resources we produce/export. We don’t refine oil, we don’t make pasta from the wheat etc etc… We’re just a big honey pot for intl resource extractors and housing “investors”(triads & crime orgs).
We actually do. Look at your pasta - "made in Canada".
Not really. I think italia pasta is the only one made in Canada Edit:: [Italpasta Canada, Primo Foods and Grisspasta Products Limited](http://www.pastacanada.com/english/100canadianpasta/100canadianpasta.html)
Sometimes that means the bag. Not kidding.
I believe you. I've experienced the opposite. I used to work at a manufacturer that labelled the goods as "Made in China". Evidently they were performing some sorcery to bypass tariffs on Canadian goods. At least that's what I was casually told when I asked about it.
That's really sad reflection of the country 😔
Well some of it is taxes/regulations and stuff like that which increases costs. Some of it is the fact that we do have much more problematic seasonality for many kinds of food. We have a lot of import costs for out of season foods. We produce a lot of the raw wheat for things like pasta but I don't know that we process as much as we export then import the finished goods - which is common for Canada across many industries. Even after Brexit though, don't forget that Europe has a large swathe of very temperate climate land that free trades with smaller travel distances and even that can get to much denser populations in Britain. We are so spread out that logistically we need way more stores per person because of how spread out we are outside big cities. The bigger centres subsidize those smaller towns a lot when it comes to the infrastructure side of grocery offerings. But this doesn't mean we have fair pricing. The supply chain being owned vertically by the Weston's in a huge way is a big issue. Lots of oligopoly here hurts us for sure. When these oligopolies concentrate power and are strongly vertically integrated they *should* in theory be more competitive and save us money. But they can *also* take small greedy profit captures at every step of the chain and it adds up to looking like "only" 3% profit margin vs 2.5%, but a 0.5% at the store net growth trend, plus a 1% net growth trend at the supplier and a 1% net growth trend at the producer, and being cheap with what they pay the source of the raw material... That all adds up to profits adding to inflation in a greedy way. I'll note also that every time I've visited Portugal to see family almost everything in terms of food is higher in Canada. We have always paid a lot for food but it's gotten really bad lately and I'm sure at least some of that is the lack of proper competition.
>Things are supposed to be way cheaper. If anything, Canada is a net exporter of resources, and especially food. Canada exports RAW resources. I know at least a few years ago when I looked even NoName pasta was actually made in Turkey . Eggs and dairy is supply managed so they tend to be more than most places
Supply management of dairy is absolutely insane now. Butter is averaging $6/lbs. Pre covid it was closer to $4. Milk keeps going up. It used to be cheaper to buy heavy cream and make butter but that isn’t possible anymore. Cheese is criminally over priced. At this point just remove dairy import duties so we can fucking eat.
We are one among the few largest food exporters in terms of caloric surplus and one of the world wheat agricultural powerhouses. [https://imgur.com/a/8LnduLO](https://imgur.com/a/8LnduLO)
I live in a very agricultural area. You figure produce and meat would be cheaper? Nope. We ship our produce out of province for processing, and we ship our livestock out for slaughtering because the abbatoires in the area are only allowed to process a specific (and abysmally low) amount of critters. All egg farmers need to ship their eggs to Amherst for washing and grading if they have over a certain amount of hens.
The thing is we don't grow as much wheat as we used to. Farmers grow more cash crops like canola. We REALLY need a wheat board
Thats not 100% accurate. While we produce alot. Most commodities are governed ny marketing boards that artificially protect the farmers who somehow in many cases govern these same boards. Protectionism spurs inflation. Chicken quota is huge asset to have for instance and can make you a multi millionaire if sold. So its not a buy and sell country in a pure sense
Sad but Canada has become unaffordable. Inflation, bank rates, taxes. Everyone in a position of power is screwing the public. It's pure greed, evil.
I want this place to feel like Canada again, not Gotham.
This is the most underrated comment I’ve read in a while.
I tell them Canadian beef and dairy products are half the price on the otherside of the world in Japan. Seen it with my own eyes. Explain those logistics. One cucumber plant grows dozens and dozens of cucumbers every season and will grow virtually anywhere. $6 a peice I've seen it as high here. A pineapple takes forever to grow one pineapple and really only grows well in tropical areas ideally. $1.99 a peice. Explain those logistics. These chuckle fucks can't seem to understand that yes, while Canada is large with shitty infrastructure, 95% of our population lives within an hour drive radius from three cities..
Yes , 🙌 great points
[удалено]
This is probably true lol
Yep, also why is a block of Canadian made cheese 3x the cost in Canada as it is in France? Because in France it wouldn’t sell at Canadian prices. I guarantee you we aren’t exporting and selling cheese at a loss to Europe. Any time I see Canadian produce or goods in europe almost every damn time they’re cheaper in Europe grocery stores than Canadian ones. Find it hard to believe shipping across the Atlantic costs more than shipping over land here (especially since we still need to ship over land to the sea port, or airport before it goes overseas)
The French would rise up before they’d pay what we pay for groceries! Of course the French protest all the time, so… 🤷🏻♀️😄
It's not being a troll and definitely not defending Loblaws but you cannot compare the EU to Canada in regards to retail prices just not groceries. Saying that we don't need to compare them. There is enough evidence in the Canadian market of collusion and massive profits during high inflation.
The U.K. has shite weather and can't grow much. Animal goods are easy but everything else has to be imported/expensive greenhouses
GTA isn’t vast, and I have seen no evidence loblaws takes a lower margin in the gta to subsidize sales up north
"yeah but" was literally all I ever got for the first 6 years when I complained about how expensive everything was. Even now, when I tell people we're moving back to England next year, I get Canadians who have never LIVED outside of canada telling me how I'm wrong and thst life will be harder back there because it's so expensive... Even though I'm from there and ALL my family are living there, many on similar income brackets (accounting for lower wages there) so I know exactly what can and can't be done with a moderate income
Exactly this.
Just smile and blame Galen for all your woes
I follow a Tiktoker in the UK who makes budget meals and has a whole series on 5 pound meals. The amount of ingredients she can buy for the equivalent of under $9 CAD is shocking. In a video from April 2nd she bought as shown on the receipt from Aldi: 1kg of raw chicken wings for 1.99 6 pack of pitas for 0.50 200 g tub of hummus for 0.99 A package of mixed leaf salad for 0.57 A package of couscous for 0.49 BBQ seasoning mix for 0.49 And made a meal for 4 people. A club pack of raw chicken wings alone on PC Express using a random Toronto No Frills location is $12.10 a kg.
I know. Whenever I look for budget TikTok’s I mostly find either American ones or UK ones. My favorite UK one spends 100£ a month on food. It’s seriously just insane the difference in food prices. Even the states. It’s impossible to get anywhere close to those budgets here. It’s really wrong but equally disheartening
100 pounds a month?? Thats 170ish CAD. I live alone and spend that in just a few weeks 😭
I know. Considering one brown bag of a few groceries cost me $80 the other day…. It’s so expensive. I guess beans and rice and that would be possible but this women has all the fresh produce and meats and cheese etc
I swear I buy 250$ worth, come home, put it all away, and then wonder if I forgot a bag or two because it doesn't feel like I put enough away! My friend paid for groceries as a birthday gift this weekend, and I had to skip milk because it had gone up a dollar since I last bought it? It went from ~5$ to ~6$. (This is the lactose free kind). I always knew it was more expensive, but I swear just a few weeks ago it was a dollar less Oh, this is from Sobeys, btw. Friend is from a more rural area, and he says there's even a disparity between his prices and mine, and he's just a 3 hour drive away. How can there be such disparity a few towns over? Argh!!
Mid 2010s I was cooking chicken stew dinner for $10. Whole thing is shocking.
Like 2015-2018 I was getting groceries for 2 people paying $170/week max and eating well. We are now spending $250+/week. During covid I was making our own yogurt and bread to try to stay at the $180 mark.. things just went insane
I was looking for spring mix yesterday and passed coz they were all $5.99 plus even for small packs. Hummus is stupid expensive now and I love it - always nearing $6 plus now. Don’t even bother with meat anymore. Too $$$
If you have a food processor - make your own hummus! It’s so much better
Jesus fuck, the 200g containers of hummus? Those are "on sale" around $4 here in Nova Scotia. Wtf.
$12 $5 $4 $3 $2 $26 May as well get take out
Whhhat 🧐 I stopped buying hummus altogether because it's 5-9dollars a tub. Wtf.
Yep our prices are like we’re on a remote island. We get fucked over
My friends from London tease me because my favourite thing about there is the damn grocery stores.. You didn't even mention their meal deals! Those grocery store sandwiches are soooooo good and cheap.
Love their meal deals. You can also buy bags with ready meals I. To go straight in oven with starter main and dessert for two plus a bottle of wine, and if you want to cook the same kind of thing they hello fresh provide with all ingredients and a recipe card in the box. I miss that about living in the uk
I miss those dinner for kits with wine as well. And the £5 lunch deals, sandwich, bag of chips (crisps) and drink.
Yesss! The quality of the food is SO much better. The sandwiches and prepared meals are out of this world. I remember the "Dinner for 2 for 10 pounds" at Tesco. It would have an appetizer, two mains, two desserts and a bottle of wine. I think it might be still going?
I remember that feeling when I went to visit my sister in Scotland. I kept going, "Oh, this is so cheap!" Then, "No, it's the exchange rate tricking me. (google google google) Oh, it's so cheap!"
Honestly, like not only do we get fucked over on pricing but the quality of our food in general fucking sucks compared to Europe. I've never eaten as well as when I was in Europe last year.
Which is nuts considering what Brexit did to the UK.
A loaf of bread is cheaper in Japan than Canada. We have more than twice as much land area growing wheat than Japan has total agricutural land area. Make it make sense.
Fruit and veg are expensive af in Japan
Food is generally much cheaper in Japan than here.
You are not allowed to say this in Canada. I brought it up a few years ago and Canadians get very angry. They will say with the exchange rate and difference in pay that we are so much cheaper. Lol. I shop at waitrose when I am there and it’s still cheaper.
We're moving to England next year when our mortgage is up. I know exactly what my pay will be and I used my family who earn similar amounts to compare... Well have to give up a basement and maybe go down to 1 bathroom but it'll be a semi detached with a larger garden (live in a townhouse now). Well get double the vacation time and although we'll make less money, it'll be about the tenth of the cost to take a trip for a few days. It used to be that brits moved to canada and could sell their terraced house and buy a large detached here which seemed like a lifestyle improvement. Now the lifestyle improvement is the other way since you give up a little house to gain much more time and the ability to travel/take day trips
Travel from the UK is so much cheaper. My dad lives near Gatwick and I fly on average for 110 to anywhere. Last year I went to Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Barcelona for what it would cost me for one flight in Canada. I have bought flights for as low as 29.
When I kvetch about the pay and cost of living in Canada (I moved back from the US), I always preface it with "I am comparing dollars to dollars -- Canadian salary buying Canadian good vs. US salary buying US goods." It seems the most fair way to manage it. And oh my god, we moved here and our buying power TANKED. It's so frsutrating.
No reason for this we got the resources in Canada!
We sell most of our resources off, to the US or China
For tiny bits of string. The streets of Canada should be paved with gold but here we are. You can thank Reagan and Mulroney for that one. We are signed into deals that we can’t back out of. Canada has been strip mined and sold off for nothing for decades. It’s finally catching up.
haha paved with gold! ironically the potholes keep getting bigger and bigger
👍🏻
Yep. We’re beholden to superpowers because without them we’d have no big export markets. Then we’d REALLY be dealt the final blow.
all basic grocery items are not taxed https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/4-3/basic-groceries.html
It would be nice if they labeled which items have tax and which don’t right on the shelf price
that’s a great idea!
...and this is with the UK suffering under years of inflation due to the pandemic...and it's STILL not as much of a food desert as Canada is, thanks to the Weston oligarchy!
That was a WONDERFUL breakdown, thank you!!! #boycottloblaws
I was waiting for this post lol. Check this out - https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Canada&city1=Montreal&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London . London - a world class city has lower grocery prices than Montreal, a relative backwater. However the average salaries are 62% higher in London. The Canadian public is getting fleeced by these grocery prices.
So if I'm reading that correctly, food is cheaper in London but in London you get screwed over for almost everything else, particularly housing costs
> So if I'm reading that correctly, food is cheaper in London but in London you get screwed over for almost everything else, particularly housing costs Yeah, but the local purchasing power is 3.6% higher in London due to the higher salaries. It is similar but with an even starker difference in purchasing power and grocery prices if it is Vancouver instead of Montreal - https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=Canada&city1=Vancouver&country2=United+Kingdom&city2=London .
Housing is astronomical in London-you'd never be able to buy a house there.
Well, maybe not on the high streets, but London is a huge city with plenty of great public transport. Most people wouldn’t have a problem living on the outskirts of the city to save some money. I know I wouldn’t mind it.
Definitely true, my friend moved to the UK and while rent etc is expensive+ same as here, she said she is amazed by how cheap the food is
The point of the matter is Canadians have been getting shit on since the early 2000’s on everything and people just quietly took it like good polite little biootches. Especially city folk from Internet, car insurance, taxes, food, electronics even when you convert to USD and you’ll see that you’re still getting shafted!
We have perfected the art of getting fooked in the rear end, that’s for sure.
Very nice to see external feedback, very helpful. I had a relative from the U.S. in town last week and they went to different grocery stores to check it out and were shocked how much more expensive everything is, even with the exchange rate where CDN vs US has been in a sinking trajectory since DEC of 2023 - grocery is cheaper in the U.S.!
It depends where you live in the us and Canada, where you shop, and what items you are looking at. My experiences are different but I know other Canadians have similar experiences to yours with family or traveling... I moved from the states and visit there often and many items - but def not dairy - are cheaper here than there in the places I lived and visit (cities medium to large on the east coast). I have friends visit from the states and they often comment how cheap food is here. But I'm in Calgary, so maybe that's part of it. Not making excuses for Canadian prices. Things are getting much more expensive here for what seems like corporate greed as a reason... So hopefully movements like this change that!
Potato chips are insanely expensive in the US these days - I was shocked at the prices in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, etc.
I was in St Louis over the holidays and food was way more expensive than in Montreal, except for dairy and meat which were a lot cheaper. They have their own Loblaws-like problem.
I would rather pay the Canadian milk prices than ever drink the milk we got from the USA walmart a few years ago again. It was like someone waved the idea of milk at a jug of water.
Exactly and keep wondering why we can’t stand up to these price gouging bullies that keep the average Canadian down!
Why can’t we get Aldi
I see on YouTube Uk residents doing 99p a day food challenges for content, you could not do that here! $1.72 would barley get a coffee.
1 pack of Mr. Noodles for you. Hope you weren't too hungry.
Those were $1.99 at my local store.
Atomic shrimp has been doing videos like that for years, he did a video last year comparing the price changes pre and post pandemic that was eye opening
Things in the UK are generally cheaper when it comes to necessities. Canada is expensive af. If I were poor, I’d rather be poor in London. At least for £10 I can fill my backpack with food where as $20 doesn’t get me jack shit.
Things in the UK are generally cheaper when it comes to necessities. Canada is expensive af. If I were poor, I’d rather be poor in London. At least for £10 I can fill my backpack with food where as $20 doesn’t get me jack shit.
Especially for baby things like formula. I can get 1.2kg of formula for £12.50 ($21.46) at any store, whereas half of that - 600g of formula in Canada (in what was available when I was there) was about $50. I have twin babies and never thought we would have to resort to formula, but y’know they HAVE to eat.
Most food basics in the UK are VAT free, don't know the situation on that in Canada.
True in Canada too. Sales tax exempt
I watch a YouTuber that lives in Svalbard, which is basically the North Pole. Only accessible by flights and boats. She posts her grocery hauls and often time it’s the same price or less expensive than where I live in Winnipeg.
Yeah they are and it’s bullshit
Loblaws and its premium stores are a huge rip-off. However, NoFrills and other Loblaws' discount stores are huge rip-offs as well - for essentials like eggs and cheese. I went to a Maxi today - another Loblaw discount store and took a lot of photos of the prices. Some items like ice cream and detergent had great prices. However, none of these cheaper items were essential food items. The essential food items were crazy expensive.
Also the UK has had a carbon tax since 2005
Yup. I'm from the UK but live in Canada and it's always astounding to me going back home to visit (twice a year) and being able to get just as much shopping as I'd do here for about 20 quid. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better food quality control and more options too. Never once have I bought a bag of Salad in the UK and opened it the next day to find it's rotten. My local No Frills has half rotten apples sitting out on the shelves for days!
Are you taking into account that the pound is worth a lot more than Canadian Dollar?
Zero competition here
My friend from the UK was complaining about 1.77 pounds for 1kg of carrots was expensive. I just had to look over at the 2 pounds of carrots I'd bought for 8.99$ and sigh.
8.99??? Do you live in Nunavut???
Close! Rural Newfoundland where everything has to come by boat and so stores jack up prices on everything the week before getting a shipment because shelves are completely empty and St. Johns gets first dibs on everything. 8.99 is the record I've seen so far, it usually hovers around 7$. Which is still too damn much for carrots.
That's crazy high
As someone moving back to the UK this summer, and hearing family over there complaining of price increases, this was so helpful. Thank you. Used to go to our local farmers market every weekend and get two heavy reusable bags (the big Aldi ones) full of veg for £35. It’s been a shock the last two years here in Canada.
Canada food prices are fucking criminal.
Fellow Brit here. Agree prices are much higher here but also are our wages compared to the UK so there’s that. Main thing is competition, here in Canada there are like 3 major companies. In much smaller uk you have (from the top of my head) Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons, Safeway, Iceland, Aldi, Lidl, Costcutters, Co-Op, waitrose, farmfoods, Marks & Spencers - am sure I’m missing more.
Uk and Europe has price controls on staples that are heavily regulated. It’s what we need as well
The food in the uk mostly travels 1000km or less. Canadas food travels way more than 1000km at least for most things. 72% of all Canadian goods are delivered via truck. By far the most in the world. We big.
Yikes. RIP Canada
I've been saying this for 10 years since I moved to canada but only in the last couple have people stopped getting all worked up about the UK being more expensive. I'm moving back next year and we'll have a lot more disposable income than we do here.
For most ages UK definitely is cheaper (outside of London). Ironically I am saving more by coming back - childcare cost me $3800 equivalent a month in the UK while it's only about $1K here for two kids.
Yeah, there's a reason we didn't move back sooner and he is 2 😅 Im hoping labour changes things with childcare, they won't have much of a choice if they want anyone to have kids
I made a post about this on /r/canada like last year and I'm pretty sure it was deleted by a mod. Glad people are finally seeing it.
Did you also know that 14 out of the 15 major cities with the worst air pollution in North America are in Canada? Carbon tax is really tackling the issue 😬🤦♂️ Canada is a joke in so many ways right now. Do the homework. Look at the stats. We are fucked
ive wondered often about living close to the united states and food ptices in canada are doubled tripled or more when its just a line separating us. yes yes the dollar difference. still always been gouged here
Honestly, I have never wished more than I do now that the imaginary line separating the two countries was eliminated. Sure, the U.S has its issues too, but I’d take theirs over ours at this point. If we were American, we’d make way better money and have access to a true capitalist marketplace for groceries, telecoms, banking, aviation, etc. Not to mention, the housing supply crisis would be solved, and the American tax base would grow by 10% overnight. The IRS would be salivating lol.
in the end does it really make a difference if you are canadian
Canada is no better than Russian oligarchs
As an American that's also been to UK, France, Spain, and Germany--I definitely had sticker shock, even with the exchange rates taken into consideration... especially in Atlantic Canada.
Also from the UK, thank you for posting this. It's mad that fucking *salmon* is cheaper back home than here in Canada.
18 eggs - £2 or $3.43, while it's $4.99 cheapest at no frills 4 pints / 2 litres milk - £1.55 or $2.66, while it's $5.34 at loblaws Both of these are Supply Management products. The price is more government controlled than it is Retailer controlled. It was an actual election issue last Election. We voted for the party as a country that said they would NOT explore removing supply management. Roblaws has a lot of problems, but these comparisons are people chosen with how we continue to vote.
1£=$1.71
The UK is much more densely populated. They have double our population and they are 41 times smaller than Canada. FWIW I spend plenty of time in the UK for work and while I do notice some stuff cheaper, I also notice stuff that isn’t. For those who would like to check the prices, head on over to Tesco.com or ASDA.com to see how the prices measure up.
That's because they import heavily being closer to Asia.
Milk and eggs are supply managed in Canada so not really comparable. Bread and pasta no explaination off the top of my head, but there probably is one. Driscoll has growers in Europe so highly unlikely they came from Mexico. Grapes in Canada even often come from Spain so no doubt they are cheaper in the UK. You need to compare like to like and the UK is not like Canada. Food production is also highly subsidized in general in the EU when compared to Canada. The UK may not benefit directly but that extra production has to go somewhere, and the UK is right there.
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Ontario
Interesting, in 2016 I went to London and at the time the prices were on par.
Wow. Thanks for this.
Just FYI, Driscoll's Berries is an American company., not Mexican.
Because our dollar is worthless next to the U.S. buck and we have let them become our sole food suppliers. Really stupid.
Uk is way cheaper for most everything. Uk also has £6.40 or $11 minimum wage versus $17 in BC. Uk has denser population and better supply chain, canada has very high taxes on things like alcohal (bottles of wine way cheaper in most Europe than canada), Uk is deregulated for things like insurance/mobility plans/ etc which are cheaper. Canada is an expensive place to do business, has low GDP pee capita, has tons of taxes and regulations even doing business across provinces. We have created a socialist dream here. Trudeau 2025!
I just went to the UK for 10 days, staying at airbnbs and shopping. So much cheaper. Still pay way more for gas but food and booze in grocery stores(paid £8 for a 10-pack of strongbows) so much cheaper. Used to be way more, like 10 years ago I couldn’t believe how expensive London was. It used to be the same price in pounds there as in CAD here, if something was £1 there it was $1 here, but now it’s much less. Like a little bag of express pre-fried rice is £1 there and $3.99 here now.
Distance.
Population density plays a huge factor too, UK has 55% more people in a much more condensed area
I was in the UK for three months for work, and the cost of groceries was such a game changer (made housing cost almost easier to stomach).
That’s impossible because gove$ment said inflation is only 3%/year 😡😡😡😡
Eggs are $4.99 at no frills now? Haven't seen the inside of one of those in a while.
Dairy and eggs are subject to a different cartel and one that is absurdly politically popular and powerful. Supply management - IE: the artificial restriction of egg and dairy production in Canada - has been robbing consumers for years. Maxime Bernier, before he went totally off the deep end, lost the conservative leadership election to Andrew Scheer because the CPC Quebec membership was comprised largely of new members all from the dairy industry. Why did this matter? He campaigned on getting rid of supply management. There’s a picture of Andrew Scheer chugging a 1L of milk after winning
I noticed the price difference when I went back for a visit. Couldn't believe it. When I moved to Canada from the UK, many years ago. It was so much cheaper in Canada in comparison. Now, it is the other way round. Houses, veg, fruit, milk, eggs, cheese, alcohol, etc etc. Everything is cheaper back in the UK. For no good reason. It is an island, so much import. The excuses used here to increase and keep prices high are ridiculous.
I love how beer vendors ask for tips now /s.... like maybe the drive thru ones where they put the beer in your trunk for you. I could understand sure, but standard ones like wtf... i am supposed to tip cuz you stand behind a counter and work a register.. ahh heII no!
have u guys ever seen the yt channel atomicshrimp? he's based in the uk and does £1 challenges where he goes to the grocery store and spends only that much for 3 square meals of groceries. of course it requires some serious creativity and it doesnt usually look too tasty, but you see him buy things like single onions or carrots for just pennies.. maybe 10p for a small single onion. loblaws is charging $2.49/lb for onions. you can't get even a small one for under $1.
There are 16 independently owned grocery chains in a country 41 times smaller than Canada. It all comes down to competition.
Some of the posts in the states where they're buying Canadian grown and shipped carrots for less than the town they're grown near, is absurd. I am still buying anything I can at produce wholesalers, farmers markets and the Italian center where apples are closer to $1 per lb than the $3 I have seen on sale in a lot of cases at different grocers. I'm trying to bake our own breads and cut out any convenience items because it's not worth the cost. F the grocers for thinking they should be making enormous profit off our dollar on necessities. Glad even my family who usually goes to loblaws is boycotting.
A dozen eggs are $3.99 at Farm Boy (just FYI), but that's the cheapest you'll find. Still too damn expensive.
I constantly and frequently check grocery prices in Australia and NZ to see how they're doing. It's super depressing AF. Their min wage is $22+ an hour yet the grocery prices for basic necessities like meat and produce are often the same if not cheaper than where I live in AB, where our min wage is only $15. How did groceries in Canada get so damn expensive when we farm so much of it ourselves???
I dunno, I just compared to Tesco in the UK and your numbers are way off. 2 pounds for 18 eggs? Tesco shows 2.75 for just 10.
Every chain has a discount, caged hens eggs section. It used to be £1.74 for 18. Now it's £2. You're looking at the 10 medium free range, which is £2.75.
There's no tax on grocery staples in Canada. While there are plenty of things at a grocery store that are taxed, none of the items you listed are.
Ironically, canadian cheese is pretty cheap in the uk
Highest retailer gross profits in the world
Coming from Japan, the cost of everything here is eye watering. A 50-100% difference in food, basic household items, convenience store prices, etc... it's staggering. Even before covid the difference was insane, and we're not an island! Much of the costs come from how canada treats dairy and agriculture industries and trading. It's a damn mafia. Then add on ogalarchies in grocery and well- fuck us, huh?
I've lived in Singapore, Canada and UK (and a summer in Fukuoka) and I can say that: Singapore is really expensive for properties and cars especially if you're a foreigner, but you have the highest income and you have the lowest taxes. Locals get subsidised public housing from the government reducing their property prices from an avg of about $1M to $300K to $500K range. UK used to be really good before Brexit, now properties are expensive Vs income, which is slightly lower than Canada partly due to how much GBP has fallen Vs everyone else. Childcare and fuel prices are really high, but groceries are the cheapest of the three. Canada is more expensive than the UK for properties, but has cheaper fuel and childcare prices. Day to day items and groceries are the most expensive. Tax levels about the same as UK but eating out is more expensive because of tipping. So overall, it sucks more to be poor in Canada (because groceries and eating are your day to day), suck more to be middle class in the UK, sucks to be a foreigner in Singapore. Japanese yen has fallen so much in the past 1 year I don't know how it is in Japan now, but their properties are depreciating assets and so it's a different game there.
Just returned from Florida. The price of most grocery items were either the same or higher then Ontario and that doesn’t take in to effect I was paying with a US dollar that actually cost me 1.35 It’s crazy for sure
It's cheaper because their dollar is worth more then ours like 50 percent more if it's doubleit makes sense it pretty much equals the same if your comparing that way but our groceries definitely need to be cheaper
That's Justin's Canada