Ontario Premier Doug Ford lamented Thursday that grocery store prices are sky high, but nixed the idea of banning so-called surveillance pricing and slammed a pilot project for city-run grocery stores as socialist and \u201ccrazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Manitoba government is moving to ban what it calls \u201cpredatory pricing\u201d on groceries, though the issue hasn\u2019t been seen locally, after an investigation in the United States found some online shoppers using a third-party platform were charged different prices for the same item bought at the same time from the same seller.<\/p>\n
When asked about the proposal Thursday at an unrelated press conference, Ford said that would run contrary to a free market.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no better way of letting people get lower costs on no matter if it\u2019s cars or homes or groceries, than competition,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is what we believe in. That\u2019s a capitalist society, a market. The other one is socialism. Socialism does not work. You go around and dictating and overseeing every single price, no. If there\u2019s collusion on pricing, I\u2019ll go after them and tear them to shreds, but nothing beats a free market.\u201d<\/p>\n
NDP Leader Marit Stiles has tabled a non-binding motion calling on the government to ban surveillance pricing. She said the predatory behaviour must be prevented.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to get out ahead of this,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to protect consumers, need to protect Ontarians. Under this government, grocery prices have gotten completely out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford said he understands the pressures at the grocery store checkout, but suggested gas prices are the culprit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI go grocery shopping, folks, and the prices are through the roof,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know what causes that? The gas prices are super, super high right now transporting goods. We\u2019ve got to buy as much as we can in bulk here in Ontario and take care of our farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interim Liberal leader John Fraser has tabled a private member\u2019s bill proposing to ban personalized algorithmic pricing. He said Thursday that there need to be guardrails.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re in a new world,\u201d he said. \u201cImagine this: You\u2019re up late one night and you\u2019re Googling the symptoms your child has. Should the price of children\u2019s Advil be based on the fact that you search that? I don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t think people want it.\u201d <\/p>\n
The premier was also asked Thursday about a planned City of Toronto pilot project to open four city-run grocery stores, a move meant to address grocery affordability. Ford called it \u201cthe craziest idea\u201d he has ever heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy all means, support the food banks, but we can\u2019t have city-run grocery stores, but that\u2019s up to the mayor,\u201d Ford said, while making it clear he still holds Mayor Olivia Chow in high regard. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe wants city-run grocery stores? You\u2019d be subsidizing it huge, because it\u2019s just, it\u2019s crazy. That\u2019s socialism. I love you, mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2026.<\/p>\n
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario Premier Doug Ford lamented Thursday that grocery store prices are sky high, but nixed the idea of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4141,525,17,2136],"class_list":{"0":"post-7144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-beverage","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-ontario-quebec"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}