We’re dropping 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 Joyful Meal.
My mother and father by no means gave me quick meals once 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 Joyful Meal age. Now that I’ve acquired 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 Joyful 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 time for supper, dealing with down an extended drive house with a hungry toddler, so whereas passing by a Micky D’s, we determined to seize her a Joyful 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 hen 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 Joyful Meal, however someway McDonald’s is holding the road and retaining them fully reasonably priced.
Can we possibly put Ronald McDonald in control of 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 value 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 truth, like someway, anyone has already calculated subsequent yr’s grocery invoice and decided it would value $800 extra, the truth is that quantity is little greater than guesswork. Politically tainted guesswork at that.
I used to be suspicious of this quantity once I noticed the headlines, then upon studying the precise report, I used to be much more suspicious. In response to the report, which was authored by some quantity 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 outdated 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 wherever 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.
Because of this media literacy is so vital and actually, actually must be taught at school. As a result of for those who 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 truth, 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” guilty meals value will increase on their politician of selection. Head over to Twitter and you could find 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 needs 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 Corporations, head of the huge grocery retailer conglomerate that controls an enormous 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 advisor to look at his wage. Shockingly, the consultants he paid for himself decided that himself wasn’t making sufficient cash, and really helpful himself be paid extra. Sensible stuff there.
If moneybags Galen retains giving himself a increase and mountain climbing meals costs at his grocery shops to pay for it, I’d begin having to purchase Joyful Meals for extra than simply my daughter.
James Culic ate his daughter’s hen nugs and fries and so they had been surprisingly good. Learn how 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.
