10 dollars for butter. 13 dollars for rice. 27 dollars for chicken.
The place where you live plays a big role in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it’s no secret that the same product can have a different price depending on the store, city, or province, we wanted to see how significant the differences are and why.
CTV reporters went grocery shopping in stores in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Regina, and Vancouver, gathering data from a flyer in Calgary, with each person shopping at two different stores and buying the same basket of goods at each: a pound of butter, a dozen eggs, chicken, ground beef, rice, apples, and tomatoes.
The lowest bill was in Calgary with an average cost of $58.87, where Calgary had the cheapest price per kilogram for skinless, boneless chicken breasts at $13, but was on par with many other provinces for the price per kilogram of lean ground beef at $17.
The grocery bill for Regina was the highest at an average of $74.17, with the costs for chicken breasts, butter, and two kilograms of rice higher than average.
Vancouver was not far behind Regina at $73.07. Chicken breasts were the most expensive in Vancouver at an average of $26 per kilogram.
Grocery bills in Halifax, Montreal, and Toronto ranged from $63 to $68, with the price of eggs in Halifax among the highest in the country.
Sylvain Charlebois, a food policy professor at Dalhousie University, says: "We are all prisoners of our geography."
He explained that coastal consumers tend to pay more because they are far from major processing centers, and everything has to be transported by truck or rail. Smaller cities like Regina and Halifax also tend to see higher prices due to less competition, especially from ethnic and independent grocers.
He added, "Generally, I would say Montreal and Toronto are incredibly competitive markets and tend to have more options, there are also more independent ethnic and specialty players in Southern Ontario leading to increased competition."
Charlebois pointed out that competition is less where he lives in Halifax, and transportation costs are high, both of which can lead to higher food costs.
"Distances are killer when it comes to transportation and energy costs." "Once gas goes up, you know you’re going to take a hit at the grocery store, that’s just how it is."
But prices can vary by neighborhood, even in stores owned by the same company.
He said, "Sometimes, you can have two stores owned by the same operator with different pricing strategies, and for many, these inconsistencies and fluctuations mean shopping around."
"I have a fixed income. When you retire, it can be tough," Graham said as he entered Toronto's Loblaw.
Canadian grocery stores have faced criticism for over two years due to food prices and corporate profits, with customers boycotting Loblaw-owned stores this month to express their frustration.
The federal government says it is trying to convince international grocery chains to open stores in Canada, as Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said this week that he "continues to look into whether there are large foreign discounts that might be interested in the Canadian market."
Champagne acknowledges that new players in the market may not be a silver bullet, but with five major players dominating the market, he says it’s worth a try.
He said, "Listen, will we succeed? I don’t know." "Is it worth the effort? We’re definitely going to keep pushing."
Adding, "There’s some good news for consumers when it comes to food prices, which have been deflating since early 2023, and Charlebois says that based on current trends, food prices could actually start to decline by the fall."
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