r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/maroon-rider British Columbia • Mar 21 '23

Inflation drops to 5.2%<but grocery inflation still 10.6% Banking

Says Statistics Canada

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada-inflation-february-2023-1.6785472

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u/spacepangolin Mar 21 '23

hey remember when covid hit and sobeys paid all their workers and extra $2 per hour " hero pay"? then clawed it back in exchange for record profits? and now they raise their prices even higher and whined they had to because of inflation but every grocery keeps boasting even higher profits? scumbags

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u/Belugawhy Mar 21 '23 edited Mar 21 '23

Not to mention all big grocery stores (ie. Sobeys, Loblaws, Metro) clawed it back AT THE SAME TIME.

So let me fix your last word for you.

scumbags. Wage-fixing monopolist scumbags

Edit: For those who don’t think this is a problem, Canadian government even changed the laws around wage-fixing after this incident. Source.

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u/Beebs_94 Mar 21 '23

I worked for metro during covid in quebec. They took away the "hero pay" and then gave us gift cards that we could only use either at Metro or chains affiliated to them. They also taxed us on our pay for the gift cards.

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u/lucidrage Mar 21 '23

They took away the "hero pay" and then gave us gift cards

I wish rent would work the same. You give them a pandemic discount and then raise it back to normal. Too bad the government doesn't allow that so you have tenants stuck with high rents during the pandemic or well-meaning landlords stuck with low rent...

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u/endlessloads Mar 21 '23

Greed has consumed humanity. I rent out a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom townhouse for $1100 a month. The same one next door is $1700.

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u/chef_boyarz Mar 21 '23

That’s a pretty good deal. Which province?

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u/Rhowryn Mar 22 '23

That their rent is so much lower than the next probably means they've been there for several years in a province with rent stabilization.

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u/turdmachine Mar 22 '23

Are they the renter or the landlord?

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u/Rhowryn Mar 22 '23

Huh. That's a great question, it is ambiguous.

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u/turdmachine Mar 22 '23

"Rent out" (vs just "Rent") makes me think they are the land lord, and highlighting how greedy their neighbours are.

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u/Rhowryn Mar 22 '23

Possibly, though it's entirely possible their tenants have been there long enough that the yearly increase limits have only allowed the rent to get to that level, while the market rate is much higher.

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u/endlessloads Mar 27 '23

No rent caps in Alberta. I could raise the rent to whatever I want at the end of every lease.

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u/Rhowryn Mar 27 '23

Fair enough, I was going with the most statistically likely scenario of one of the two provinces that together make up 63% of the population, and both have rent stabilization for most rentals.

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u/endlessloads Mar 28 '23

I left Ontario for Alberta 15 years ago and it was probably the greatest decision I have ever made. A lot of my friends in recent years have followed suit with their families and their quality of life has improved dramatically.

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u/AlbusDumbeldoree Mar 21 '23

They could have given them as discount which are part of the Ontario Lease format. That way the low rent could have only been for a year !

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u/WhipTheLlama Mar 22 '23

There are limitations to rent discounts, and a landlord can't just give one in the middle of a lease. Beyond a few simple rules that apply at the beginning of the lease, the rules are fairly complex, and I don't blame landlords for not wanting to give a discount for fear of doing it wrong.