NDP leader says his grocery store caps would limit costs at North West Company stores too

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has been calling for a cap on grocery store staples this summer and on Tuesday – he made that same pitch in front of the uptown Independent grocery store in Yellowknife. 

He said the cap, which intends to rail against the "corporate greed" of big grocery chains in Canada, would limit the price of certain products at the Independent (which belongs to the Loblaws chain) but also at North West Company stores, which include Northmart and Northern stores in remote communities. 

"We need to see real relief so that people can get the food they need and it's affordable," Singh told a handful of reporters. "It's not going to happen on its own. It's going to require clear laws and a clear vision." 

Prior to the media conference, Singh and N.W.T. NDP candidate Kelvin Kotchilea purchased a few items inside the Independent. A President's Choice bag of apples cost $10, he said, as did a bag with seven peaches. A bottle of olive oil cost $20 (three dollars less than what it cost when Singh did the same price check in Coquitlam, B.C. last month).

Kotchilea said last year, his family of four averaged about $200 for a week of groceries. Now, they pay about $350. 

"You either eat your food as medicine, or your medicine as food. So it's not fair to me or my children or to my wife that we have to either go for products that are not good for our consumption," he said. "We definitely have to call out big corporations on what they're doing to us as consumers." 

Singh also talked about reforming the Nutrition North subsidy program – what he calls another example of corporate greed – and supporting traditional harvesters so country food is more readily available. 

He's expected to be at the Yellowknife Farmers Market Tuesday evening, where he also made an appearance in the summer of 2022. Singh and Kotchilea are meeting with the Dene Nation and hosting a health-care roundtable on Wednesday, before Singh attends a town hall at the Northern United Place at 6 p.m.