Roundup: Calling for price caps

Posted on by

The NDP are at it again, and by “it,” I mean making stupid demands that should get them laughed out of any room they’re in. To wit, yesterday they demanded price caps on certain grocery items, claiming that the Loblaws settlement over the class action for the bread price-fixing scheme as “proof” that government needs to take action. I can’t think of a more economically illiterate argument that is trying to simply base itself on “vibes” that will only do far more harm than it will do good.

The high price of certain grocery items is rarely an issue of grocery chains hiking prices. It does happen, but there has been little evidence of it when margins have been stable. If you bother to actually pay attention to agricultural news or Statistics Canada data, it’s pretty clear that much of those price increases are a result of climate change-related droughts in food-producing regions, with the odd flash flood or hurricane also ruining crops, and driving up prices. The invasion of Ukraine exacerbated issues by throwing world markets for wheats and cooking oils out of whack, driving up prices as exports couldn’t get to market. And even if you have growing conditions that rebound, often price are locked into contracts with producers or processors for several years at a time, which can delay prices returning to lower levels as supply rebounds. But the point here is that most of this is explainable if you actually bother to look, rather than just screaming “corporate greed!” because you are ideologically predisposed to doing so.

More to the point, this just strikes me as a little bit of history repeating the demands for price controls in the mid-seventies as inflation was reaching double-digits, which then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau mocked with the phrase “Zap, you’re frozen!” We’re not there, and frankly the demand for price caps is frankly ridiculous, and if they persist, we should resurrect “Zap, you’re frozen” to mock them as relentlessly.

Programming Note: I am taking the next week or so off. Columns will continue on schedule but blogs and videos will be taking a bit of a break.

Ukraine Dispatch

Russia launched drone attacks against power facilities in two regions, prompting more power grid disruptions. Another drone attack appears to have overshot and struck down in Romania, but NATO doesn’t believe that this was an intentional attack. A leaked UN report is pointing to Russia as the culprit of an explosion at barracks housing Ukrainian POWs two years ago that killed fifty.

Good reads:

  • Justin Trudeau convened an Incident Response Group meeting over the wildfire in Jasper, that may have destroyed between thirty to fifty percent of the town.
  • Harjit Sajjan says nothing in the federal inventory could have prevented the wildfire from reaching Jasper given the speed and height at which it was travelling.
  • Arif Virani and Dominic LeBlanc are clapping back at the premiers howling about bail laws, saying that they need to actually enforce federal laws in their provinces.
  • Mark Miller says that US Republican senators are making “categorically false” statements about the resettlement program for Palestinians from Gaza.
  • Here is a look at the behind-the-scenes conversations happening around Toronto’s proposed drug decriminalisation plans, which never got approved.
  • The CRA intends to revoke the charitable status of the Jewish National Fund because it funds military infrastructure in Israel.
  • Canada’s ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae, has been elected to head the UN’s Economic and Social Council.
  • NORAD says that Canadian and American fighter jets intercepted a group of Russian and Chinese fighters near Alaska airspace—the first time for those countries jointly.
  • There are doubts as to whether the federal government’s measures to prevent the extinction of the southern resident killer whales will be sufficient.
  • The Pentagon recently released a report on future threats to the Arctic, which Canada needs to be increasingly prepared for.
  • The Federal Court granted an injunction against the CFIA’s new rules that would deeply impact kosher food production, pending a full trial.
  • The Star hears the grumblings of anonymous Liberals on their desire for a “deeper” Cabinet shuffle, without really saying what they mean.
  • While giving misleading statements about crime statistics, Pierre Poilievre also mused about defunding safer supply of drugs, and forcing addicts into rehab.
  • The federal NDP don’t appear to be gaining any ground as the Liberals founder, as they typically have in the past.
  • Tim Houston claims he was told he would be a “lightning rod for protestors” if he attended the Halifax Pride parade. (Oh, come on).
  • Michelle Cyca looks at how journalism is playing into the social media outrage cycle, to the detriment of these media outlets’ credibility.

Odds and ends:

Want more Routine Proceedings? Become a patron and get exclusive new content.

2 thoughts on “Roundup: Calling for price caps”

  1. I’ll say this for those Ukrainian combat robots. They’ll be more willing than real live Ukrainians who are being seized off the streets, given a crash course in military tactics and sent off to the front lines against their will.

Comments are closed.