Is carbon pricing affecting food prices in Saskatchewan?

The price of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.7 per cent in Saskatchewan in 2023 due to the carbon tax.

That’s according to University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe, who used modelling data from a Statistics Canada database to break down how the carbon tax impacted the province’s economy.

“It raises the price of fuel, gasoline and so on. So that spills onto all sorts of other goods through the supply chain, and foods are indeed one of the more energy intensive items out there,” Tombe explained.

Tombe said the data he gathered assumes costs are passed fully to the consumer. He adds there isn’t a direct link between the carbon tax and food prices, but rather the things surrounding food.

“It also includes the cost of manufacturing food items. The things that are generally in the middle of the grocery store,” said Tombe. “(It) is going to take energy to produce those at manufacturing facilities.”

Meanwhile, associate professor of economics at the University of Regina, Jason Childs, said ultimately the consumer is going to see an increase.

“At the end of the day, the people of Canada are the ones who are going to be paying the carbon tax, whether it’s in higher grocery prices or whether it’s in lower returns on your pension fund,” said Childs. “You’re going to pay for it. It’s just a matter of how and when.”

Statistics Canada officials told Global News in a statement, “The Federal Carbon Levy was implemented in Saskatchewan in April 2019. Prices for food purchased from stores in Saskatchewan have increased by 26.6 per cent in February 2024 compared with April 2019.

“Prices for food purchased from stores in Saskatchewan have increased by 24.7 per cent in February 2024 compared with February 2019.”

In Saskatoon, locally owned Steep Hill Food Co-Operative manager Amielle Christopherson notes the store hasn’t seen massive impacts to its food prices yet.

“Nothing that’s been very shocking or nothing that’s been very impactful across the entire store.”

Christopherson said there has been a slight increase in shipping and production costs, and they have adjusted prices to match.

&copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.