Toronto is piloting a city-owned grocery store. Could it help fight high food prices?
Toronto City Council has approved initial steps toward a city-owned grocery store pilot to increase competition and drive down food prices. The move addresses growing concern over Canada's grocery oligopoly, where major chains have posted outsized profits—a trend critics link to "sellers' inflation" since COVID. SCP's CEO Matthew Mendelsohn sees the pilot as a promising step toward public ownership models that prioritize affordability over investor returns.