Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses.
This is very helpful today, and these are important conversations because we've heard over and over again that food is a fundamental need and that households don't have the flexibility to reduce their spending on food compared with other commodities. I'm happy to be here today addressing the frustration that Canadians are feeling with the rise in food costs.
Dr. Stanford, you've cited that average grocery prices have increased 11% in the last year, which is about double the overall inflation rate of 6.3%, and that, even though housing prices and gas prices are coming down, food inflation is still stubbornly high and that food retail profits have nearly doubled compared to prepandemic norms.
We heard from both you and Professor Brander that shortages at the beginning of the pandemic made it possible to raise these costs. Demand was up during the height of the pandemic, as people were staying at home, but even though people are buying fewer groceries now than during the height of the pandemic, profits are increasing on average for supermarkets.
Can you explain in simple terms how we are going to dispute major grocery chains' arguments that this is business as usual for them? How can we explain how prices seem to go up fast but are very slow to come down?