OneCity mayoral candidate Amanda Burrows has a plan to lower grocery costs if elected Vancouver mayor.
On Tuesday, she announced that she would pilot a “community food trust,” where the city could purchase at-risk stores and protect them from closure — like Sunrise Market, a long-serving, family-owned grocery store in Chinatown that was listed for sale last week.
“I believe that this city has a role to play in protecting places like this to keep it affordable,” said Burrows, in an interview with Daily Hive.
With a community food trust model, the city would protect the land, and a community-based non-profit would run the store, “selling food at low margins and paying workers fairly.”
“People are being squeezed from every direction and food is one of the most immediate pressures,” said Burrows in a press release where she announced the policy.
“This is about lowering costs and protecting the everyday places that Ken Sim and ABC have put at risk – so people can afford to live, eat, and stay in the neighbourhoods they love,” she said.
Burrows said that the city should prioritize food in its budget, just it does with things like community services and public spaces.
“I think food has to be part of that conversation as well. And so creating spaces, protecting land values, having land use, that’s something the city can actually really do. That is a tool in the municipal toolkit to start treating food as part of those essential services,” she said.
Burrows made the announcement with a video produced with social media creator Christopher Lee, where they both shop at different grocery stores.
Burrows, who shops at Sunrise, is able to afford the ingredients for a meal for a family of five for under $20. Meanwhile, Lee, who is shopping at Save on Foods, spends over $30.
Burrows proposal is similar to what recently elected New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani pitched in his campaign, where he promised to open affordable city-run grocery stores.
Fellow OneCity candidate William Azaroff is also looking for the mayoral nomination for the party.
“When affordable grocery stores disappear, people pay more and communities lose something essential,” said Ian Marcuse of the Vancouver Food Justice Coalition, in the release.
Cost of groceries continuing to climb
Grocery prices have risen steadily over the past year. According to StatsCan, grocery store food prices rose 4.7 in November 2025 compared to the year before. Beef had increased by 17.7 per cent and coffee by 27.8 per cent.
A growing number of B.C. residents are having to rely on food banks, with a nine per cent increase from 2024 to 2025.
The cost of food is expected to climb in 2026 by four to six per cent in 2026, according to a report from Dalhousie Agri-food Analytics Lab published late last year. A family of four is predicted to spend $994.63 more on groceries this year — for a total of $17,571.79.
Mayoral election this year
Burrows threw her hat into the mayoral ring last December, saying that “the city is becoming more expensive and less fair.”
“Ken Sim and ABC are cutting programs and services to give their wealthy friends a break, and we’re losing what makes this city special,” she said in her announcement.
Other mayoral candidates include former ABC councillor Rebecca Bligh and Vancouver Liberals Kareem Allam.
The Vancouver mayoral election will take place on Oct. 17, 2026.
Daily Hive Urbanized reached out to Burrows and will update this story with her response.