David Eby announced that a re-elected BC NDP government would crack down on corporate price gouging and cap profits on everyday essential foods — potentially saving B.C. residents up to $700 a year on groceries.
At a press conference in Kelowna on Friday, Oct. 2, Eby said that B.C. has only five major grocery store chains that rake in huge profits. In 2025, the Weston and Pattison families, who respectively own the chains Loblaws and Save On Foods, grew their combined wealth by $4.4 billion in 2025. Meanwhile, grocery prices are 27 per cent higher than they were five years ago.
“Families are being squeezed every time they go to the store because corporate retailers are using inflation as a cover to jack up prices on essential goods,” said Eby in a release.
“We’ve all seen our grocery bills go up and up while the profits of grocery giants soar. That’s why we’ll protect working families with new measures to cap unfair increases on grocery staples and protect you from rising prices every time you shop.”
The BC NDP said they will use a “price guard” to cap profit margins on essential food items, including milk, eggs, cheese, butter, and poultry.
The provincial party added that they would mandate clear per-unit pricing as a way to intervene with “shrinkflation.”
Further, they said that “to level the playing field long-term,” they’d ban real estate controls that stop competition between grocery stores and surveillance pricing, as well as work with the federal government to establish a food terminal in the Lower Mainland where smaller grocers can buy wholesale and get access to competitive prices.
The BC NDP said these actions could save customers up to $700 per year.
“Grocery prices are a lot like housing. It’s no one thing. It’s going to take a bunch of steps to drive down your cost at the till,” Eby said at the press conference.
Over the past year, numerous reports have surfaced about how many B.C. residents are struggling with the high cost of groceries, with nearly 40 per cent reporting changing their eating habits to mitigate rising prices and food bank use increasing (even among people with full-time jobs).
Since calling the snap provincial election on Sept. 22, the BC NDP has made a number of campaign promises, including to save the average driver $20 per gas tank fill-up by cutting provincial gas taxes and regulating oil and gas companies.
The provincial election is on Oct. 24.