We’re shedding sight of the true villain within the Canadian meals value world, writes James Culic
Final Sunday marked a milestone second for me. For the primary time in my life, I ordered a McDonald’s Comfortable Meal.
My dad and mom by no means gave me quick meals after I was a child, so by the point I used to be sufficiently old to purchase my very own McDonald’s, I used to be past Comfortable Meal age. Now that I’ve bought my very own child, I attempt to do the identical, and I made it a complete three-and-a-half years earlier than caving and shopping for a Comfortable Meal. My daughter isn’t a lot into quick meals—she prefers Japanese dishes like ramen and katsu curry—however we had a busy Sunday and had been out and about at supper time, going through down an extended drive residence with a hungry toddler, so whereas passing by a Micky D’s, we determined to seize her a Comfortable Meal.
She didn’t truly eat a lot of it — she solely needed the milk and the yogurt and wouldn’t contact the fries or rooster nuggets — however that wasn’t probably the most shocking half. What actually blew me away was the value: a mere six bucks.
How is that this doable? Meals prices have skyrocketed in Canada to absurd ranges, so I used to be fully ready to pay $12 or extra for a Comfortable Meal, however by some means McDonald’s is holding the road and conserving them fully inexpensive.
Can we possibly put Ronald McDonald accountable for Canadian grocery shops additionally, as a result of we might actually use somebody over there who isn’t gouging us.
Particularly with the “news” that meals goes to possibly price us an additional $800 subsequent yr. I put “news” in quotes there as a result of whereas I’m seeing everybody toss this round prefer it’s a reality, like by some means, any individual has already calculated subsequent yr’s grocery invoice and decided it’ll price $800 extra, the fact is that quantity is little greater than guesswork. Politically-tainted guesswork at that.
I used to be suspicious of this quantity after I noticed the headlines, then upon studying the precise report, I used to be much more suspicious. In accordance with the report, which was authored by some number-crunching nerds at Dalhousie College, the College of Guelph, College of Saskatchewan and College of British Columbia, the $800 determine was arrived at through the use of “machine learning and AI models to make predictions” so straight away, massive crimson flag. Additionally they declare to have factored within the Trump residency to “calculate” the additional meals prices subsequent yr. Once more, massive previous crimson flag.
Trump hasn’t even taken workplace, we all know nothing about what he would possibly do. He’s as unpredictable an individual as exists anyplace on Earth, so to say that his presidency has been factored into this equation makes it much more ineffective than no matter AI hallucination dreamt up this $800 quantity within the first place.
Do I believe meals goes to be dearer in 2025? Completely. Do I believe it may be calculated with any degree of accuracy through the use of AI and politics? Completely not.
That is why media literacy is so necessary and actually, actually must be taught in class. As a result of should you take a fast have a look at social media this week, you’ll see tons of posts from individuals stating that meals costs are going to rise by $800 in 2025 as if that’s only a straight up reality, all the way down to the greenback. The one factor annoying me greater than these posts is that each different one makes use of this “report” in charge meals value will increase on their politician of alternative. Head over to Twitter and you will discover lefties blaming the meals costs on Doug Ford and right-wingers blaming it on Justin Trudeau.
Everyone seems to be pointing the finger at politicians and forgetting to level their finger the place it ought to be pointed: at Galen Weston Jr.
Allow us to always remember that amid historic meals value will increase, Galen the Nice, CEO of Loblaw Firms, head of the huge grocery retailer conglomerate that controls an unlimited swath of meals distribution throughout Canada, gave himself a $1.2 million increase final yr, bringing his complete wage as much as $11.79 million. He did so after hiring a guide to look at his wage. Shockingly, the consultants he paid for himself decided that himself wasn’t making sufficient cash, and really useful himself be paid extra. Good stuff there.
If moneybags Galen retains giving himself a increase and mountaineering meals costs at his grocery shops to pay for it, I’d begin having to purchase Comfortable Meals for extra than simply my daughter.
James Culic ate his daughter’s rooster nugs and fries and so they had been surprisingly good. Learn the way to yell at him on the backside of this web page, or hit up our digital drive-thru window and scream a letter to the editor into the rusty speaker grille by clicking right here.
