Emily Lowan's BC Greens promise new public grocery store chain with 20 locations | Daily Hive

Emily Lowan's BC Greens promise to create a provincially owned and operated grocery store chain, starting with 20 locations

Save On Foods at King George Hub in Surrey City Centre. (Rosalie Che/Shutterstock)

The provincial general election’s main voting day is this Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. If re-elected, Premier David Eby’s BC NDP-led provincial government would crack down on large grocery chains by capping their profit margins on essential foods, including milk, eggs, cheese, butter, and poultry.

But Emily Lowan and the Green Party of British Columbia want to go much further by creating a chain of publicly owned grocery stores.

For over half a month, the concept has attracted widespread mixed attention in Canada and the United States, particularly through New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plans for municipal grocery stores. Mamdani announced that produce, meat, and other staples at the planned stores would be priced 30 per cent below those at private retailers.

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The BC Greens’ platform proposes starting with 20 grocery stores and a distribution hub, backed by $100 million in upfront provincial government funding to establish the operation. The chain, called Green Grocers, would sell fresh B.C. produce and other staples at “affordable prices.”

The platform also promises to keep prices for a basket of core goods 30 per cent below market levels.

“The BC Greens are determined to change this system, to break up the oligopolies and make the basics affordable for British Columbians again,” reads the party’s platform.

“The supply management system has protected the price of staple products like eggs and milk from tariffs. It also demonstrates that there is a role for government in establishing price caps to protect consumers from price gouging. Now is the time to take that work further, and ensure families can afford to buy Canadian.”

The Greens point to Mexico’s longstanding network of thousands of community grocery stores as evidence that the model can work. Mamdani’s first municipal grocery store for New York City, meanwhile, is expected to open by the end of 2027.

Closer to home, Lowan’s party cites the BC Liquor Distribution Branch as an example of the provincial government’s existing ability and experience to operate a retail and distribution network. The provincial Crown corporation operates about 200 publicly owned BC Liquor stores across the province, supported by a wholesale distribution system.

The Greens also propose building a public wholesale and distribution system to supply the grocery stores, schools, and hospitals, with a requirement for 30 per cent locally produced food.

BC Liquor Store. (Koshiro K/Shutterstock)

These proposals come after years of steep increases in grocery prices, driven in part by pandemic-related supply chain disruptions and higher production and transportation costs.

Retailers have also cited theft and increased spending on security as cost pressures that ultimately affect shoppers. The Retail Council of Canada has estimated the annual impact of retail crime at roughly $10 billion across Canada’s retail sector, with theft spiking since the pandemic.

Major grocery chains maintain that they operate on slim margins. However, a Statistics Canada analysis published in 2023 found that net profit margins in the broader food-store sector generally ranged from 1.5 per cent to 2.3 per cent before the pandemic, compared with 2.4 per cent to 3.8 per cent in 2021 and 2022. That category includes grocery stores, specialty food stores, and beer, wine, and liquor stores.

In a January 2025 open letter responding to criticism of Canada’s grocery retail industry and a boycott by some consumers, Loblaw argued that their profit margins had “remained stable” compared with pre-pandemic levels, averaging around three to four per cent. He said the remaining 96 per cent went to food manufacturers, growers, wages, store operations, and taxes.

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