this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2025
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[–] mountainbear49@programming.dev 1 points 4 hours ago

That problem has a track record from even deeper than the 3-firm collusive oligopoly of distribution. In fact, in the 1970s the Government of Quebec unilaterally decreed criminal charges beyond arbitrary and Pareto-inefficient quota limits of production and sale by a centralist system of ‘licenses’, a result of colluding of the 1922-born Union des Cultivateurs Catholiques (UCC) of Quebec and the Government of Quebec. Under the guise of “management of supply”, those terrorists have made production and sale of agricultural products under Quebec law a criminal offence, and skyrocketed prices of daily basic human needs of food. Example, still in 2025, the Government of Quebec has threatened criminal charges, i.e. penalties, incarceration, and ultimately use of lethal force, on any production and sale of chicken beyond the 22 chicken production licenses total, 12 eggs production licenses total, $24 000 + per cow production licenses, and 3 slaughterhouses total, on the vast expanse of land more vast than Europe under military rule of the fascist racist capitalist selling-the-country(including-their-own-mother)-to-rich-foreigners ‘government’ of Quebec.

Ahh, the smell of food riots in the morning of the 2020’s. Does not seem to have changed much since the 19th century.

About that, a few recommended readings:

“The Conquest of Bread” - Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin “The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time” - Karl Polanyi “The Hidden Repression of the IMF” - Alex Gladstein “La Ferme Impossible” - Dominic Lamontagne “Mutual Aid: a Factor of Evolution” - Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin

In parallel, astute observers of economics and politics of Quebec and Canada have likely noted a similar problem about a similar unilateral decree of ‘licenses’ of production and sales. In opposition of the Canadian parliamentary federation unilateral decree law of 2017, by which cultivation of cannabis has legal standing up to 4 plants per household, the aforementioned government of Quebec has produced a racket of collusive monopoly, breaking entering and gunpoint robbing self-medication peasants, farmers, students, professors, moms, dads, aunties, uncles, etc. with one hand, and selling ‘licenses’ of prodcution and sales in highest-bidder-auction-even-if-you-sang-self-incrimination-about-’187’ing-cops-of-partner-nations-on-multi-million-sales-music-records with another hand.

“Oh, well just apply for a license!” => minimum investment required, a large production facility (e.g. warehouse), i.e. approx. $100k pre-application, then bribe a lottery type attribution system to actually get the Government of Quebec approval to grow therapeutic food plants, sell them, and if you produce more in contravention of the limits the Government approved of you (e.g. CannTrust), you just get a minor $ penalty, in comparison with the productive people producing outside of that dump of officepaperwork waste of natural resources.

In another parallel, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), from the comforts of offices in gomorrah Washington D.C., has an extensive record of lending active genociders trillions of US$ on conditions of ecocidal and inefficient mono-cultures very similar of the gunpoint-slave-labor plantations of the style of Charles Tait of the 1700s.

The bad parts of capitalism and centralist state communism, with scarce democracy in sight beyond words under attack from stacks of dirty paper and gold in shell-corporation hideouts of the style of Panama, Luxembourg, and Fort Knox, Texas.

Welcome to Canada Ey! Bonjour, Hi, and Bye!

Prescription:

Anarchism yesterday, today, as long as needed. Of, for, by local people.

Replacing pigs in sties and maggots in rot.

Since the needs arose, until the needs subside and fade away.

For human rights, for health.

Peace.

Happy Farming :)

Sincerely,

One of numerous mountain bears.

[–] Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I manage a produce department of an IGA, and for years I've had the freedom to order produce from cheaper third-parties to keep my prices low. I have always maintained a 99¢ /lb. to $1.99 /lb. maximum sale price on bulk apples, but just recently Sobeys (our parent company) forced our largest third-party supplier to become an "official ordering partner" and to match all of their costing or lose our business. Now those third-parties are pointless to order from unless I am shorted a bunch of produce from our warehouse. And my apples? $2.49 /lb. to $4.99 /lb., depending on the variety. An absolute fucking joke.

[–] ODGreen@lemmy.ca 21 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes, Loblaws, Sobeys and gang are gouging everyone.

But climate change is a big factor in rising food prices too.

Remember olive oil going up in price? Crop failure due to bad weather.

Orange juice? Disease due to climate change.

Coffee prices rising right now? Take a guess.

It's only beginning.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Orange juice? Disease due to climate change.

That's very recent.

A more historical look at orange production - particularly in Florida - shows it peaked in the early '00s at 250M boxes, then plunged to 12M boxes thanks to disease, hurricanes, and real estate development.

But the root reason is that orange surpluses were thinning profits. Drastic reduction in production pushed up unit prices without materially increasing costs.

Orange agribusiness is doing fine. It's the retail purchases who are eating shit

Remember olive oil going up in price? Crop failure due to bad weather.

The destruction of historical olive groves has been a major Israeli tool for displacing native Arab peoples.

This isn't just bad weather. It's manufactured poverty through ethnic cleansing.

We're seeing similar events in Central Africa, Ukraine, the Kashmir region of India, and now the US military campaign against Venezuelan fishermen.

[–] ODGreen@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Olive grove destruction in Palestine is a horrible part of the genocide. But not a factor in olive oil price rises in Canada. The stuff we see here is produced in Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Greece etc.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Ugh, I feel this in the USA too. I went to get some groceries the other day - purposely "just picking up a few things." I live in an area where you have to bring your own bags, and I only brought two, so I was careful with my limits.

It was still sticker shock at the register, as my total was between $90-$100 USD. What the actual fuck.

I'm sorry you're all dealing with the same thing north of the border. I also understand if my comment isn't welcome in this community - I'll delete it if so. I just found the meme painfully relatable and wanted to commiserate.

[–] InputZero@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

American's are still welcome to Canada, just leave the MAGA bullshit at the door. We're still sibling states. Even though our older brother is increasingly hateful and violent, you're still our brother. We're worried about you. We won't tolerate any of your abuse though.

[–] JamBandFan1996@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 day ago

I love Canada, wish I could move there lol

[–] jaselle@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You're welcome. We are upset with the USA, not Americans.

[–] FreeBooteR69@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

The Orange menace and his cult.

[–] tetris11@feddit.uk 2 points 1 day ago

Same hit in the UK, same hit in Germany.

(With the exception of LIDL, for some reason they understand how to keep prices down)

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 3 points 22 hours ago

A bag like that at SuperStore (Canada) for us is around $50, but if I go to the smaller chain (Fruiticana) its like $18... I'm always stunned and think they forgot to scan some items

Someone in another Lemmy post suggested CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). In essence, you give farmers a down payment for a period of time and in exchange you get share of the harvest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community-supported_agriculture

I was looking at the prices and to get two seasons (Summer and Winter) of both produce and meat would cost $1,500ish a year. I would be pay about $125 a month. Which is less than the almost $200 a month, I pay.

It's definitely something I will be doing in the future.

[–] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 92 points 1 day ago (5 children)

It's hard to boycott the price gouging bastards when it's just 3 companies owning the entire market of what you literally need to buy every week to live.

The best I can do is make maximum use of my local farmer's market but it's closed for the season now. Which is a bummer because not only it was cheaper, but the produce was fresher and of higher quality.

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

This is the way, though.

Grow your own = Insanely cheap, very easy, super delicious.

Farmer's market = Cheap, convenient, super delicious and big.variety.

Friends with chickens = Delicious high quality free eggs offloaded onto you every week.

Grocery store = Low quality crap; twice the price. An unpleasant experience of other miserable people and awful music. A chore of a thing to do. The whole layout trying to be themed like a fancy farmer's market but you can't even find the plum vinegar!

[–] Amuletta@lemmy.ca 4 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Farmers markets have never been cheaper where I live. Fresher maybe, but as expensive or more expensive than supermarket produce.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca -1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

That's absurd. Produce is a fraction of the price at the market, and it's still better quality after sitting in your fridge for a week. Raise some hell

[–] Amuletta@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 hours ago

Not where I live. It's much more expensive.

[–] waigl@lemmy.world 33 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Grow your own = Insanely cheap, very easy, super delicious.

Not going to be anywhere near enough food for one person unless you have more land available for yourself than people in a city or even most modern suburban developments are likely to have. Also takes a lot of time and effort if you want more than the occasional tomato, cucumber, lettuce head or zucchini to enrich your diet a bit. (Can be fun on a small scale, though.)

Farmer’s market = Cheap, convenient, super delicious and big.variety.

Nice, but takes a lot of planning, storage and home cooking to work out. You may need to start planning your life around when the farmer's markets are and what they carry. Also, the variety is necessarily limited to what farmers in your area are growing.

Friends with chickens = Delicious high quality free eggs offloaded onto you every week.

Cool if you got those, but most people don't.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Not going to be anywhere near enough food for one person unless you have more land available for yourself than people in a city or even most modern suburban developments are likely to have.

i did a study on area needed for food production a while ago, and IIRC

  • per person, about 1000 m² are needed to feed them. depends a bit on where you live though
  • fertile land produces around 3.5 t of grains /ha on average. with modern technology, the peak is 7.5 t/ha
  • by far the most area is needed to grow calorie-heavy foods. like, you could get far with 30 m² for yourself if you only plant vegetables and buy the grains at the supermarket
  • grains are really cheap, compared to vegetables. that's because vegetables are labor-intensive (difficult to automate because they're often fragile and sensitive) while grains can be automated on ultra-large-scale farms with farming machines, so they're really cheap.

Note: 1 t = 1000 kg, grains = cereals

[–] Botanicals@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Land available isn't true at all. A sunny windowsill could provide a family with herbs, leafy greens or something like tomatoes. Check out the kratky method for a pretty cheap introduction to hydroponics

I believe the “grow your own” suggestion is intended to be supplemental, rather than a fully developed subsistence farm in your back yard.

The beauty of growing your own is that you can decide what you want to grow! There are some things which are very easy and cheap to grow (such as fresh herbs) that are actually quite expensive and inconvenient to buy! Other things, such as potatoes, are very cheap in any grocery store (when purchased in bulk) such that growing your own is more of a hobby/curiosity than a budget saver.

Tomatoes happen to be one thing you can grow at home that are simply far more delicious than anything you can get at a store. Sometimes you might be able to get nice heirloom tomatoes at a store but they tend to be very expensive and usually seasonal.

If you get some experience growing tomatoes then you can produce a pretty large crop in a relatively small yard. With home water bath canning you can then outfit yourself with up to a year’s supply of home made pasta sauce (or even simply peeled and blanched tomatoes with basil leaf in the jar).

[–] Icytrees@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Valid concerns. I won't ignore the orphan crushing machine and every situation is different, but a lot of food can be grown in an apartment.

I had a 300sqft bachelor pad in Vancouver where I managed to grow tomatoes, goji berries, greens and ALL the herbs. I kept my herbs in pots under a full spectrum light indoors, clipping and drying as they grew out. After set-up I only had to water, fertilize sometimes, and prune as needed. Greens, I kept harvesting young and re-seeding. Aside from watering, it took almost no effort to put a significant dent in my grocery bill.

Now, I have a 4x8ft fenced garden in a shared yard where I grow so much I barely buy produce in the summer. Aside from weeding, sprouting and transplanting in the spring, the main labour is watering, which only takes like five minutes. I get my seeds from things I eat or the public library seed share, so those are free, too.

I legit grew three pumpkins, four ziplock bags of sunflower seeds, beets, snap peas, opium poppies, carrots, tomatoes, gooseberries, strawberries and still have a herb shelf inside.

I get that's still not a year's worth a food, but it's a lot for tiny bit of dirt, considering I knew nothing about gardening before.

Oh but get GMO pumpkin seeds. White mildew rot is a pain in the ass and everywhere. And a dehydrator if you don't know how to deal with lots of food at once, you can make chips and crackers out of anything.

I'm pretty lucky in that my friends hunt, too, so I get a butt load of deer meat every fall.

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

Yeah. I don't have large space, but grow my winter and my summer vegetables, then obviously herbs. Plenty for two people. All I need to do is get meat.

Literally about to have a meal now and it'll be eggs benedict on toast with spinach and mushrooms. Only thing not from the yard or friends is the bread.

Or I could go down the road and get the same meal, shittier, for $20.

Edit: Didn't even use the bread. Decided to go omlette. But I did slot some sliced ham in there which was also store bought.

[–] Icytrees@sh.itjust.works 2 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

Sounds fantastic. Foraged mushrooms are the best. I feel the same way about going out for food unless it's something difficult or expensive to make on my own. That said, one of my favorite meals is a bowl of peas.

I've sent city hall and my mp an obnoxious amount of e-mails about allowing urban chickens here. When they get their heads out of their asses and shut down the bylaw I'll have a coop built before the ink dries.

[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So envious of all of you that have cheap farmer's markets. Where I am, my choices are

  • Grocery store: cheap, highly variable quality, support the conglomerates
  • Farmer's market: expensive, probably higher quality, support local farmers

They're so much fun to walk through though. If only I could actually afford to buy from them.

[–] saltesc@lemmy.world 1 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

All I can guess is our farmers haven't been given any initiative to sell to a middle man (store) that marks up. In essence, a farmer's market is supposed to be like going directly to the manufacturer and telling the retailer to fuck off. The farmer is happy, I'm happy, it works.

If your farmer's markets are expensive, I'm guessing it may be novelty or hobbiest produce out to make a quick buck of a trend.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

My parents have had decent success packaging and freezing some farm stand stuff for later.

[–] Botanicals@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Your folks have the right idea! I'll add that canning certain things is also a great skill to learn

[–] Hazematman@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

100% Agree, I thankfully have a local grocery store close to me so I can avoid the big 3, but this isn't a realistic option for everyone. I'm hesitant to just buy online for things like produce as my experience with them has been mediocre (I haven't tried costco though).

This really isn't a problem the everyday Canadian can fix without the government stepping in and breaking up the monopoly of Loblaws, Sobey's and Metro.

I'd love to see a future Canada where there was more local grocery chains, with the same access to product that the big three have. Also would be great if they were closer to where people lives so people wouldn't feel like the need to drive to get their groceries.

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[–] IronKrill@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Tough to boycott the lowest-price option in my area. :/

[–] Botanicals@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I'm genuinely curious: have you looked into co ops in your area? Some deliver!

[–] IronKrill@lemmy.ca 2 points 16 hours ago

The only ones I know of locally are those red-branded "Co-op" stores, but where I'm at they're all gas stations with only convenience stores so everything is 1.5-2x a grocery store. Google couldn't find me anything either.

[–] Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org 13 points 1 day ago

We should have public run grocery chains. These companies are scum

[–] brax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Meanwhile we still have people screaming about the Sunshine list in Ontario, because it stayed at $100,000 while inflation continued to rise. If it stayed true to purpose, it would be closer to $200,000 now.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

All public salaries should be public. I disagree that fixing the cutoff causes it to diverge from it's "true purpose". IMO it actually gets closer to that purpose every year.

[–] brax@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 hours ago

Why not make ALL salaries public regardless of if they're private or public sector? Imagine the fun you could have with that kind of data

[–] CultuurMarxist@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (4 children)

How bad do you guys have it over in Canada in terms of cost of living crisis?

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It’s not great.

The median mortgage payment is over 50% of the median income, which historically should be 30%. Houses are over 60%. But the numbers are getting better than their 2023 records highs.

Our biggest grocers were fixing bread prices for over a decade and were only given a slap in the wrist. People can ask for a $20 rebate.

Almost all of our grocery stores are owned by 3 companies (Loblaws, Metro, and Sobeys (made up of former Loblaws employees)). 3 companies own almost all our phone providers, so they gouge prices too.

You can really see a trend — we seem to concentrate all our industries into 3 or so companies and the competition bureau thinks that’s fine. Historically I think that’s because we were a colony and got too used to being exploited and having our wealth shipped off.

[–] rozodru@pie.andmc.ca 4 points 1 day ago

it's expensive here. Groceries are a crap shoot and if you have the ability to shop mom and pop then that's your best bet. Thankfully I live in Toronto near an area known as "little china" so I do all my grocery shopping there and I save an absolute ton. better quality food imo too.

Rent is a crap shoot pretty much every where in the country. you're not going to find US prices here at all. And if the place you do live is connected via a transit system to a major city then rent is going to be about the same as if you were actually living in said major city. so you're looking at paying well over $1200 a month for just about everything. anything below that? you're one lucky bastard.

Everything else is expensive because in Canada there's very little, if any, competition and that's by design. like 3 grocery chains, maybe 3 telecom providers that all provide phone, internet, and tv service so they all work together and adjusting their prices. The Canadian government is essentially in the pocket of these companies so you won't get competition at all as the government basically won't allow it.

It's been like this for a very long time. Canada is expensive, has always been expensive, and will continue to be expensive because the powers that be want it that way.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Bread is distressingly expensive because of price fixing.

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[–] NotSteve_@piefed.ca 6 points 1 day ago

I wrote out a longer response but decided to summarise it as: it's bad. Groceries are unaffordable, rent and mortgages in the cities are unaffordable and we don't have the public transport infrastructure to support everyone's commutes, utilities are overpriced. It's pretty rough rn even as someone who's household admittedly makes above average

[–] chocrates@piefed.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And it's not even gonna taste very good when make it.

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Galen Weston needs another castle so sawdust bread for you!

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

It's chewy but it's nutritious!

[–] AbeilleVegane@beehaw.org 10 points 1 day ago

Seriously, we should do something as a society. We can't let two companies (there are others, but please) manage all the food distribution in the country, it's just terrible. Can't we pass some legislation or something?

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Which Canadian chain is better?

[–] Sunshine@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 day ago

Giant Tiger probably

[–] Kowowow@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Man superstore bread used to be perfect but they changed something and now it doesn't have the extra fluffy inside and chewy crust but they change it back I won't care about the price(mostly)

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