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610 CKTB | The Great Grocery Gambit: Government Gimmicks & Corporate Tricks Won’t Lower Prices · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Litcky, he's got a take. Good morning, John Litcky.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean Belitis.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, I love this take that you have this morning.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: We're talking about the price of food and grocery stores
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and what's going on. Now. New York and Toronto have
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: approved public or I guess we can call them government
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: subsidized grocery stores. Now, you know, this reminds me of
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: that old Ronald Reagan quote that he said, the most
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: frightening thing you can hear is somebody say, I'm from
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: the government and I'm here to help, because you know
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: that's a disaster. Now, government subsidized grocery stores. Now, is
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: this really a solution to high prices?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: No, this is a train wreck in slow motion that
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: we all get front row seats to watch. Gene. We're
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: talking about municipal bureaucrat people who need three fiscal quarters
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and a consultant study. Is the patch a pothole and
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: we're going to put them in charge of fresh produce
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: supply chains and paper thin retail margins. This will bleed cash,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: it will have empty shelves, It will leave taxpayers holding
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the bag, an empty grocery bag, if you will. But
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: the hypocrisy here is rich because in New York we're
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: watching progressive politicians insist that there will be some type
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: of identification required to enter one of these grocery stores
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: to ensure that non New Yorkers don't get to take
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: advantage of it. But these are the same Democrats who
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: say that you can't have photo ID to vote, and
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: all I mean it's the hypocrisy is just ridiculous. You're
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: going to have to show proof of residency just to
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: buy state subsidized milk. But let's be honest, this is
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: not policy to feed hungry families. This is central planning
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: theater for ribbon cutting photo ops for politicians who want
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: to get re elected. If city halls really want to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: get into the food business, they can start by offering
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: a refund on the tax dollars that they already greedily
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: eat up. Or they could shuffle the money towards existing
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: not for profits and charities and food banks that already
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: know how to deliver on these very thin margins that exist.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Now you compare public grocery store to the Timmys at
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: the Windsor Regional Hospital. Now, how does a hospital coffee
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: kios prove city hall shouldn't be selling groceries. This is
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: going to be an interesting answer.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Well, this is the ultimate lesson in municipal economic delusion.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Gene that tim Horton's at the hospital here is a
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: statistical miracle. They manage to lose money annually hundreds of thousands,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: despite having a totally captive need to be caffeinated audience
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: of stressed out staff and visitors who literally have nowhere
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: else to go. Why do they lose money because they
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: are paying union level hospital level wages, and corporate HQ
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: at Timmy's is capping menu prices nationally. So the math
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: is broken right at the outset. A city run grocery
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: store with expected union labor overhead and fixed retail pricing
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: will fall into that exact same trap, except instead of
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: subsidizing coffee, taxpayers are going to be perpetually subsidizing lettuce.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: So when bureaucrats try to run retail, you're going to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: end up with a fourteen dollars banana that takes forty
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: five minutes to clear a committee.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: You're killing me this morning, let' tee now. Loblaws tested
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a physical barrier blocking in their stores until the receipt
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: and the items could be confirmed. So it sounds to
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: me like grocers are eyeing the uber algorithmic pricing model.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: But where's the line between protecting the bottom line and
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: corporate overreach?
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we had one of those gates down here, I
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: think a couple actually in my region and Windsor and
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: those barriers made me laugh until the legal stupidity actually
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: set in, blocking shoppers from leaving until granting clearance. That's
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: not lost prevention, that's forcible confinement. Costco gets away with
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: receipt checks because there's a voluntary membership contract that's signed
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: by both parties. Loblaws doesn't have that. It's like no
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: one decided to illegal to check the fire code before
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: installing the gates to keep customers locked inside. Or were
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: they just too busy building the barricades like they were
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: stagingly Miserabla and the produce. And you know, as for
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: surveillance pricing, algorithmically jacking up prices when demand spikes, that's predatory,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: it's corporated's cynical. And yes, of course theft and technology
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: costs they're up. But turning stores into hostile surveillance zones
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: and treating customers like criminal suspects that's a great way
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: to drive people straight to independent competitors. But because I mean,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: listen at this rate, buying a box of cereal, it's
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: going to be requiring a background check.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Now, Ottawa is spending twelve point four billion on the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: so called grocery Benefit rebate, supposedly to help out with
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: higher prices. Now you claim this actually hurts customers.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean we're listening. Printing billions in cash and
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: dumping it into an overheated market to solve high prices
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: is like throwing gasoline on a house fire. You'd think
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Ottawa would have figured this out. Basic supply and demand
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: or you know, as trailer breaks voice say supply and
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: command after the COVID stimulus checks. But they're addicted to
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: buying votes with our own diluted currency. This is just
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: a taxpayer pass through scheme. The Ottawa takes our money,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: they give them their administrative fee, they hand us back
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: our money. We walk into lab laws, we hand it
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: straight to Galen Weston and the circle of life is complete.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: It guarantees corporate profits while driving food inflation higher. But
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: people need to eat today, not here. You know, we
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: heard from the government We've got a ten year agricultural
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: greenhouse plan to get new vegetables. But you know, to
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: quote the consistently hunger burger seeking Jay Wellington Windy from Popeyes,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: I'd gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today. People
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: want a hamburger today, Gean.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you got it. Now, Trump's trade team is targeting
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the Canadian supply management to system in Cosma talks. Now,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: you call this system stupid, and you call it a
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: government cartel. So what needs to change?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Well, it is mind bogglingly stupid. I don't like our
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: supply management. We've created state sanctioned cartels that force Canadian
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: families to pay higher prices artificially for essential staples, while
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: we force farmers to dump perfectly good product to maintain quotas. Meanwhile,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: we've got that foreign owned plant that opened up outside
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: of Ottawa. That process is excess Canadian dairy, turns it
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: into baby formula, ships it off to China, but local
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: parents are facing sky high costs or empty shelves at times.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: And it's indefensible. If the government wants to have a
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: strategic dairy reserve, fine build one out, but stop punishing
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: working families at the checkout line to protect an artificial
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: monopoly that we're building out and continually pushing out. So
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: open the market, unleash the competition. Stop legalizing food destruction
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: in a cost of living crisis. We don't need government
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: trying to convince us that destroying good food to keep
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: prices high is a point of national pride. It shouldn't be,
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: all right.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Final question, now, if government stores, cash rebates as you
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: call them, fort loblaws and central planning aren't the answer,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: I mean a kidding aside, What is the practical solution
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: to high food prices? Because Canada in the G seven
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: we are number one in food inflation.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Ditch the gimmicks gene no state run stores, no inflationary checks,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: no corporate turnstile barriers. If we want to lower prices,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: enforce real antitrust laws, break up our oligopolies, Smash the
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: barriers that keep independent grocers out. Dismantle the supply management
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: cartels driving up retail costs. Stop printing fake economic rebates,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: Let the actual market forces work. Stop protecting the monopolistic
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: systems at the direct expense of you, me and your listeners.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: If politicians really want to lower grocery bills. They don't
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: need to build a city supermarket, They just need to
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: get out of the way and allow for real competition.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Dang, you nailed up this morning.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: There he goes John Litkey. Litkey's gotta take. He'll be
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: back on Friday.