Gregory Charlebois criticized the federal government’s decision to reduce funding for agriculture research in the 2025 budget, aiming to save up to 15% of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s budget. He highlighted the challenges of ramping up research and the potential impact on Canada’s reputation for high-quality food. Charlebois emphasized the importance of research support for farmers and the negative consequences of cutting it.
In addition, soaring grocery prices remain a concern for many Canadians, with Canada experiencing the highest food inflation in the G7 at 6.2%, double that of the United States. Charlebois attributed this issue partly to the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, suggesting a lack of capacity building to control inflation. He criticized the GST rebate as inadequate in addressing rising grocery bills and proposed eliminating GST on all food instead.
Charlebois also highlighted the concept of “shrinkflation,” where reducing product sizes leads to taxable snacks, affecting consumers’ costs. He illustrated this with an example of granola bars becoming taxable once the quantity decreases.
