Stabilizing food prices 'not like a switch you can flip': Industry Minister

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the process for stabilizing food prices is 'not like a switch you can flip,' but rather one that will likely take weeks and months, after he announced an agreement with major grocers this week that he vowed will lead to steadier prices 'soon.'

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the process for stabilizing food prices is “not like a switch you can flip,” but rather one that will likely take weeks and months, after he announced an agreement with major grocers this week that he vowed will lead to steadier prices “soon.”

Champagne and the federal government have been promising action to address grocery costs for weeks, and set a deadline for the CEOs of Canada’s five largest grocery chains to come up with a plan to “stabilize” prices by Thanksgiving.

This week, Champagne said Canadians will “soon” start to see grocers taking certain measures to address prices — including price freezing, price matching, and discounts on certain products — but he didn’t say by what metric shoppers can judge whether the plan is working.

Champagne also told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday, the process of lowering prices will likely go on “for months.”

“It’s not like a switch you flip and you say, ‘oh, it's Thanksgiving, and suddenly everything is solved’,” he said. “I'll be on their back for months.”

“This is day four,” he added. “This is just an initial set of measures. This is an ongoing process.”

Champagne emphasized that the Thanksgiving deadline was one for grocers to come up with a plan, not to actually achieve stabilized prices by this weekend.