The cost of keeping alive

By Ivan Morgan

Many years ago, there was a supermarket on Ropewalk Lane called The General. I had mouths to feed, and their prices were great, so I shopped there a lot. One Saturday morning I was getting the week’s provisions when I ran into a former neighbour and family friend. His name was Aly O’Brien, an old school farmer whose farm was close to ours on Nagle’s Hill. He knew my folks when I was a wee lad. He was well into his eighties and still robust.
One rarely saw him in public, so I went over to say hello. He was standing in the produce section looking wonderstruck.
“Where does all this food come from? Look at it all!” he said looking around. “When I was a lad during the Depression there was no food. People starved. My parents used to leave food out by the gate because folks were too proud to ask for it. It would be gone in the morning.”
“Now look at it all!” Holding up a starfruit he laughed, “I don’t even know what the hell this is!”
He stood in that store marvelling at the change in his lifetime from scarcity and privation to plenty.
Now, many years later, people stand in the middle of grocery stores, surrounded by the abundance that amazed Aly, but they can’t afford much of it.
Am I being too dramatic? I can still “afford” food, but it gets more expensive every month. I know plenty who struggle to feed themselves.
The media will tell you soaring grocery prices are caused by a host of reasons: climate change, supply chain issues, and corporate greed. I think it’s primarily corporate greed. I think dominant food corporations stifle competition to earn record profits.
Don’t agree? Loblaws and Sobeys have been making record profits for a few years now. Sure, you can shop around but options are limited.
Still not convinced? Loblaws is ponying up a half billion dollars because of a class action lawsuit that accused them of engaging in an industry-wide scheme to fix the price of bread. They got caught. Is that all they are doing?
Food is an interesting commodity. It’s a necessity but completely controlled by the private sector. You need it to live, but there’s no regulation of prices. Makes for an interesting business plan. We pay for a clean water supply with our taxes, clean air is supposedly also protected by public money, but nourishing food? Private.
Let me quickly add that I am not suggesting government groceries. Can you imagine! Overpriced stale bran muffins and we starve every time a public sector union strikes. That’s not the solution.
What is the solution? It’s interesting at my age to feel naive, but with three elections this year I thought the soaring price of food – something every single one of us needs every single day – would be an election issue. Nope.
We heard a lot about Trump. We heard a lot about Elbows Up. We heard a lot about national pride. Nothing about the cost of eating.
That’s all well and good but you can’t fry patriotism.
Now that the federal Liberals have given up on their carbon tax do we think the price of food may dip a little? You will excuse me if I don’t hold my breath.
Food in our society is a complex issue. We have never seen the incidence of obesity and food related health problems we see today. I can think of 20 reasons why many people I know should not have that second burger or plate of fries at a summer barbecue. Not being able to afford to isn’t one of them.
One thing my friend Aly never saw in his day was the security at some grocery stores. Now we are corralled in and channelled out with guards at all points. These companies are very focused on protecting themselves from us.
My question is who is protecting us from them?

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com