The Manitoba government is launching a provincial grocery study to identify new ways to reduce food costs and improve affordability for Manitobans.
“Manitobans are feeling the cost of groceries every week,” said Premier Wab Kinew. “As a government, we have a responsibility to make sure life is affordable for families. This study is about going after the practices that are driving up prices and making sure grocery prices work for people, not against them.”
As part of the study, the Manitoba government will examine predatory or differential pricing practices, including cases where companies use consumer data or purchasing patterns to raise prices. These practices can result in some consumers paying more than others for the same groceries.
Consumers often cannot see or understand these pricing practices at the checkout, the premier noted, and this study will assess how pricing practices affect affordability in Manitoba and identify options to improve transparency, fairness and consumer protection.
“As finance minister, my job is to focus on two budgets, the province’s budget and your household budget,” said Finance Minister Adrien Sala. “This work will help identify real, workable steps to bring grocery costs down and make life more affordable for Manitobans.”
Governments across Canada have taken steps to address grocery affordability, Manitoba is taking a leadership role by launching one of the first comprehensive, province-led studies focused on understanding grocery pricing practices and identifying concrete actions to lower costs for consumers.
“It’s great to see Manitoba leading the way on ensuring a more free and fair market for its citizens,” said Vass Bednar, managing director, Canadian Shield Institute and co-author of The Big Fix. “This study comes at a critical time, as these kinds of exploitative pricing tactics risk the fundamentals of a free market. The focus needs to be on ensuring a competitive market, grounded in privacy legislation that doesn’t allow anyone to use citizen’s data to exploit them.”
The grocery study delivers on a commitment made in the 2025 throne speech, the minister noted, and will take a comprehensive look at food prices and affordability provincewide, including access, availability, market concentration and pricing practices that contribute to higher grocery costs.
The study will build on recent Manitoba government measures, including freezing the price of a one-litre jug of milk through 2026, reducing restrictive covenants in the grocery sector to increase competition, expanding the universal school nutrition program to ensure children have access to food at school and doubling the prenatal benefit to help expectant parents manage food costs.
The Manitoba government will share updates as the study progresses and will continue working to address the rising cost of living across the province, the minister added.
