Toronto councillors approve city-run grocery store pilot project
· Toronto Sun
Toronto City Hall is so good at filling potholes, they’re now planning to put a chicken in every pot.
City council approved a pilot project late Thursday, proposed by Councillor Anthony Perruzza, that calls for four city-run grocery stores. His hope is that if the stores “forgo” profits and get a break on property taxes, Torontonians can buy good food for less.
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“People are having trouble making ends meet. We all know that. We all hear that,” Perruzza told Thursday’s council meeting.
Mayor Olivia Chow threw a couple of extra items in Perruzza’s grocery cart. She amended his motion to expand what would have been a report strictly on ways to figure out city-run stores to also cover a list of food-related subjects, such as exploring “policy levers available to the city to prevent price gouging by grocery and other retailers.”
Chow thanked Perruzza for bringing the idea forward, and told council she thinks voters are “hungry for innovative thinking.”
Perruzza’s proposal passed 21-3, with Brad Bradford, Jon Burnside and Stephen Holyday opposed. Mike Colle and Josh Matlow were absent.
While Michael Thompson voted in favour, he didn’t give the concept his full endorsement, calling it a “huge risk.”
He said he understands both the objective and the issue, but he’d “prefer to see incentives” rather than having the government running grocery stores.
“I’m really concerned about us being all things to all people, quite frankly, and not being successful at it,” he added.
‘Terrible idea’
A fellow Scarborough councillor, Paul Ainslie, was more enthusiastic but warned the idea needed “some additional consultation.”
He told those in the council chambers that before entering politics, he spent some 20 years in the food sector, much of that in distribution. He said he had “some concerns” with a meagre four-store model.
“There’s a whole discussion we can have around food costs,” Ainslie said, “but I would like to hear from some industry experts on what the opportunities are for (them) to deliver this, because food security in this city is a huge issue that we need to deal with.”
Holyday, however, was no fan.
“I think that this is a terrible idea and I think that this is a poor use of resources, and we shouldn’t even be talking about it,” he said.
He suggested running a grocery store would be easier said than done. If somebody shopped around, Holyday said, it’s likely “the prices are not that far apart” on staples such as milk or potatoes — the sort of food that might be the focus of a municipally run outlet.
“I think if you begin to compare apples to apples — literally — from store to store, you’re going to find out … I don’t think that the government could possibly run this more efficiently than the private sector does,” Holyday said.
While Chow lauded the idea as “innovative,” it was the second signature policy by the new mayor of New York City, the avowed socialist Zohran Mamdani, that Toronto city council adopted on Thursday. The city will also soon have to figure out a paid snow shovelling program , thanks to a proposal by Chow.