As more Canadians struggle to make ends meet, Liberals gut measures to lower prices for Canadians

A new report from Food Banks Canada reveals that 25 per cent of Canadians, or 6 million people, are living at poverty levels.

OTTAWA – On Tuesday, NDP Food Price Inflation critic Alistair MacGregor called out the Liberals for gutting an NDP bill to lower prices for Canadians, only a day before a new report shows rapidly increasing poverty rates.

“Across the country, we’re seeing more people needing to go to food banks, many of which have full-time jobs,” said MacGregor. “Millions of Canadians cannot keep up with grocery costs. That should not be the case in a country as wealthy as Canada. Yet, at a time when the government should be stepping up to support people, we’ve got the Liberals and the Bloc Quebecois who, less than a day ago, gutted the NDP plan to lower costs for people. And the Conservatives who’d rather give billions in handouts to the very same CEOs who are gouging people.”

On Monday, the Liberals and Bloc teamed up to remove affordability measures outlined in NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s bill to lower prices for Canadians. They voted against measures to combat price fixing from major grocery chains and ban harmful mergers that reduce options and increase prices for consumers.

Earlier in June, the Conservatives and Liberals also blocked an NDP motion that would have forced grocery CEOs to lower food costs or face a price cap. This motion also called for an end to the billions of dollars these CEOs get in corporate handouts.

“Things have become very discouraging for Canadians – costs are up, and we’ve got a Liberal government that would rather protect CEO profits over people. And Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives, who want to make it easier for rich grocery CEOs get richer at your expense,” MacGregor added. “This is wrong. Canadians deserve better.”

“New Democrats are the only ones fighting for solutions that lower your monthly costs. We’re going to keep going after corporate greed to make sure that Ottawa is working for you, not for rich and powerful corporations.”