You can see a price. You can’t compare a basket.
One ask, in both countries: grocery prices published and comparable.
- A price per unit (per kg or per lb) on every shelf tag and online.
- The same price online as in store.
- Price changes posted.
Food in stores costs 33% more than in 2020, and you still can’t compare one store to the next. Sixty seconds: sign, then tell your MP what that does at your kitchen table.
24 people have signed (24 in Canada · 0 in the US)The problem
Families pay more every year, and still can’t see the real price.
+33%
Food keeps costing more.
Prices for food bought in stores are up 33.0% from September 2020 to September 2026.
5
A handful of chains dominate.
“Most Canadians buy groceries from one of five companies: Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Costco, and Walmart.” The three largest reported more than $100 billion in sales and more than $3.6 billion in profit in 2022, up from $2.4 billion in 2019: “a 50% increase in four years.”
1 of 13
And you can’t compare.
“It is difficult to compare prices on even a few items between different grocery stores.” Unit pricing “is currently only required by law in Quebec,” one province out of thirteen provinces and territories.
Who goes hungry in Canada, and what it costs to feed each person →
We think that is backwards. The companies that set the prices can see every price. The families paying them can’t. Politicians can change that, and they won’t unless enough of us ask.
Order through an app? It stacks up
App prices can differ from the shelf, and then come the fees.
Instacart’s own Canadian help page says “some retailers may set prices on the Instacart platform that are different than in-store prices.” Delivery fees there start at $3.99 for same-day orders over $35, and service fees vary.
CBC Marketplace found in 2022 that Instacart shoppers at Loblaws and Costco paid “about 10 per cent more per grocery item beyond the itemized delivery and service fees.” A 2025 National Post test found a Sobeys order on Uber Eats cost 45 per cent more than in store, fees included.
A December 2025 investigation by Consumer Reports, Groundwork Collaborative and More Perfect Union found some Instacart prices “differed by as much as 23 percent per item from one Instacart customer to the next,” and baskets differed by about 7 percent on average. Instacart then said it would “immediately end price experiments” used by retailers on its platform.
An example basket, not a measured average
- Groceries at the shelf$100.00
- Item prices ~10% higher in the app (CBC’s 2022 figure)+$10.00
- Delivery fee (Instacart’s starting fee)+$3.99
- Tip (example)+$5.00
- Before any service fee$118.99
Illustration using the cited figures. Your order will differ.
What we’re asking for
Three concrete changes.
- 01
Standard unit pricing, everywhere
Mandatory, standardized unit pricing across Canada: every product priced per 100 g or per litre, the same way, in every store. The Competition Bureau already recommended harmonized unit pricing in 2023.
- 02
Open price data from big grocers
Large grocers publish their prices in an open, machine-readable format, so families, researchers and independent tools can compare stores without walking into five of them.
- 03
Show what grocers paid, too
For each item, grocers should show the price they paid and who they paid it to: the farm, wholesaler, manufacturer or other company they bought it from, as well as the price they charge you. We are asking for full transparency along the whole chain, from where the food is bought to the shelf. We have not found a law that requires this today, which is why we are asking for one.
- 04
Move Bill C-226 forward
Get the food price transparency bill out of committee and to a vote, with the asks above written into it.
About Bill C-226
Bill C-226, An Act to establish a national framework to improve food price transparency, is a private member’s bill in the House of Commons. It passed second reading on April 22, 2026 and is now being considered by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.
What it does. The text says the Minister of Industry must, with the provinces, develop within 18 months a national framework with standards for unit pricing (accuracy, usability, accessibility of unit price displays) and for transparency about price increases, adjustments and fluctuations, plus consumer education on unit prices, and report to Parliament. What it does not do. It does not itself require grocers to publish every item’s price online, and it says nothing about what grocers paid for food. That is why we ask for more on top of it.
Who decides
- The Minister of Industry is a cabinet job held by a Member of Parliament. On October 20, 2026 it was Mélanie Joly, MP for Ahuntsic-Cartierville, Quebec. If the bill passes, her department must develop the framework, with the provinces.
- The provinces. The bill says the Minister must consult the provincial governments responsible for consumer affairs. Consumer rules like Quebec’s are provincial, so each province has its own minister for them.
- The sponsor is Gurbux Saini, MP for Fleetwood—Port Kells, B.C. It is a private member’s bill, not a government bill.
- The committee. The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food (12 MPs; chair Michael Coteau, Liberal) holds the bill. Its first meeting on it is scheduled for Thursday, October 22, 2026, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Eastern, and it is webcast. Committee membership, witnesses and votes are public.
- How far it has to go. LEGISinfo lists these steps. Done: first reading (September 18, 2025) and second reading (April 22, 2026, passed 168 to 150 on a recorded vote). Now: committee, where it shows no activity until the October 22 meeting. Still ahead: report stage and third reading in the House, then three readings in the Senate. Any step can stop it, and a committee can amend it. We have not checked how long it can wait at any step.
- Lobbying. Anyone paid to lobby federal officials must register, and the registry is public. Registering is legal and common. This is what the registry showed on October 20, 2026, and nothing more.
- Instacart has an active registration, through a consultant at PAA Advisory, since October 6, 2025. It lists “food supply chain, food pricing, and food labelling, including Bill C-226” and “algorithmic pricing practices”. Its two meetings reported so far (June 3 and 24, 2026) were with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada officials, under the subjects industry, science and technology, and privacy.
- Retail Council of Canada has an active registration (since 1997, 592 monthly communication reports on file) that lists “Grocery and Cost of Food” as “a high priority concern” and the industry-led Grocery Code of Conduct. It does not name Bill C-226 in what we read.
- Loblaw has an active registration (since 2011, 386 reports on file). The grocery-related line we found concerns environmental policy and the retail grocery industry. Metro registered April 1, 2026 (0 reports yet). Wal-Mart Canada has an active registration (since 2021, 150 reports). We found no food-price or C-226 wording in those three.
- DoorDash and Uber had registrations that are now inactive (2021 and 2016 to 2017). Sobeys and the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers show only inactive registrations. We did not find Costco in the registry.
House of Commons: the ministry · Agriculture committee · Registry of Lobbyists
The committee holding Bill C-226
The Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food studies the bill line by line, can amend it, and sends it back to the House. These are its 12 members, as listed on October 20, 2026.
| MP | Party | Riding |
|---|---|---|
| Michael CoteauChair | Liberal | Scarborough—Woburn, Ontariomichael.coteau@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-0919 Constituency 416-443-0343 |
| John BarlowVice-chair | Conservative | Foothills, Albertajohn.barlow@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-995-8471 Constituency 403-603-3665 |
| Sébastien LemireVice-chair | Bloc Québécois | Abitibi—Témiscamingue, Quebecsebastien.lemire@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-996-3250 Constituency 819-762-3733 |
| Steven Bonk | Conservative | Souris—Moose Mountain, Saskatchewansteven.bonk@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-7685 Constituency 306-435-2831 Also 306-634-3000 Also 306-842-9000 |
| Sean Casey | Liberal | Charlottetown, Prince Edward Islandsean.casey@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-996-4714 Constituency 902-566-7770 |
| Paul Connors | Liberal | Avalon, Newfoundland and Labradorpaul.connors@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-4133 Constituency 709-834-3421 |
| Marianne Dandurand | Liberal | Compton—Stanstead, Quebecmarianne.dandurand@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-995-2024 Constituency 819-347-2622 |
| Dave Epp | Conservative | Chatham-Kent—Leamington, Ontariodave.epp@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-2612 Constituency 519-358-7555 Also 519-326-9655 |
| Daniel Gobeil | Liberal | Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, Quebecdaniel.gobeil@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-7207 Constituency 418-698-5648 |
| Jacques Gourde | Conservative | Lévis—Lotbinière, Quebecjacques.gourde@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-2639 Constituency 418-836-0970 |
| Tim Louis | Liberal | Kitchener—Conestoga, Ontariotim.louis@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-992-4633 Constituency 519-578-3777 |
| Kent MacDonald | Liberal | Cardigan, Prince Edward Islandkent.macdonald@parl.gc.ca Hill Office 613-995-9325 Constituency 902-838-4987 |
Committee page and meetings · Find any MP’s email · Emails and phone numbers are the ones each MP lists on ourcommons.ca, read October 22, 2026
What the bill leaves out
As written, Bill C-226 asks the Minister of Industry to design a framework for unit pricing and price-change transparency within 18 months, report to Parliament, and review it within five years. From the text we read, it does not:
- require grocers to publish their prices online, in a form anyone can compare;
- show what grocers paid for food, or who they bought it from;
- mention grocery delivery apps and the prices or fees they charge;
- set any penalty if a grocer does not follow the framework.
What we want moved forward, as Canadians
- The committee amends the bill to require one standard unit price on every product, in stores and online.
- Large grocers publish their prices as open, machine-readable data.
- Grocers show what they paid and who they bought it from, beside the price you pay.
- The same rules cover delivery apps.
- The committee reports the bill back quickly, and the House and the Senate pass it.
We think this is what transparent grocery prices should mean. The committee decides what goes in the bill, so if one of these MPs represents you, a short email from a constituent counts.
Our goal
Help families cut grocery spend by at least 20%.
This is a target, not a measured result. We have not measured it yet, and it depends on transparent prices existing first.
Right-sized portions
Buy what your household actually eats, so less food and money goes in the bin.
Nutrition goals first
Plan the week around what keeps a family healthy, then find the cheapest way to get there.
Plans for your family
One plan for the whole household, so the shop is built once, not item by item.
We’re building this as Lucilla Grocery Agent. See the Grocery Agent.
Write to your MP
Signing counts. A letter from a constituent counts more.
Find your MP
Search by postal code on the House of Commons site. Each MP’s page lists their email and office address.
Find your MP on ourcommons.caSend the letter
Email it, or post it for free: mail to any MP is postage-free at [MP’s name], House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6. Source.
Your letter · edit the [brackets]
Dear [Your MP's name], I am your constituent in [your postal code], and grocery prices are squeezing my household. Food prices in stores have risen 33% since September 2020 (Statistics Canada, September 2026). The Competition Bureau found in 2023 that most Canadians buy groceries from one of five companies, that the three largest grocers earned more than $3.6 billion in profit in 2022, up 50% from 2019, and that unit pricing is required by law only in Quebec. In the Bureau's words, "It is difficult to compare prices on even a few items between different grocery stores." I am asking you to act on three things: 1. Mandatory, standardized unit pricing across Canada, so any product can be compared per 100 g or per litre in any store. 2. Open, machine-readable price data from large grocers, so families and independent tools can compare prices between stores. 3. Moving Bill C-226, An Act to establish a national framework to improve food price transparency, forward from committee to a vote. These transparency rules should also cover prices and fees charged through grocery delivery apps, so shoppers can see what they pay compared with the shelf. Please tell me where you stand on Bill C-226 and what you will do to make grocery prices transparent. Sincerely, [Your name] [Your address or postal code]
Where things stand
The Grocery Code is not about your prices
The Canada Grocery Code of Conduct has been fully implemented since January 1, 2026, and the major national grocers registered. It governs how grocers deal with suppliers. It does not require prices to be published to shoppers.
MPs have asked for the data before
In 2023 the House Agriculture committee recommended that the government “collect and make public data on costs throughout the Canadian agri-food supply chain,” including food retail.
Quebec already moved
Quebec’s 2024 consumer law sets rules for food price labels, including the regular price beside any sale price and the non-member price beside loyalty prices.
What governments do
Canada grows and ships a lot of food. Families still can’t see what it costs.
9th
largest food exporter
Canada is the world’s 9th largest exporter of agri-food, fish and seafood products, about $100.3 billion in 2024, and 61.9% of it went to the United States. We think a country that grows and ships this much should be able to show its own families what groceries cost.
$679
a benefit for the bill, not for the price
The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit replaced the GST/HST credit in July 2026: up to $679 for a single person, $890 for a couple and $234 per child under 19, tax-free, paid quarterly and based on income. Most Canadians buy groceries from one of five companies, so we think much of it ends up at the same few chains. Help paying the bill and a price families can see should come together.
2004
the UK requires unit prices
Britain’s Price Marking Order 2004 obliges traders to indicate the unit price, the price per kilogram or litre, so shoppers can compare products. Here, only Quebec requires it.
Country by country
Who makes grocers show prices, and what happened.
Read the labels. Only Israel and Croatia make large grocers publish what they charge, online, so anyone can compare stores. Quebec and the others mostly make the unit price visible on the shelf, or cap or tax prices. None of the rules in this table that we read make grocers show what they paid for the food. They are all about the price the shopper pays.
| Where | What the rule is | What we know |
|---|---|---|
| Israel Shows selling prices online law 2014, in force 2015 | Supermarket chains must post prices online and keep them current. | A peer-reviewed study found distinct prices per item across 61 stores fell from 16 to about 5, and prices of covered items fell 4 to 5% more than a comparison group. The authors also report chains began setting identical prices in all their stores. Caveats from the same authors: first-year data, discount chains saw little effect, and studies of petrol-price disclosure in Chile and Australia found prices rose, so disclosure can help collusion. CEPR (2018) · AEJ: Microeconomics (2023) |
| Croatia Shows selling prices online since May 2025 | Retailers must publish daily price lists online in machine-readable form. Described as modelled on Israel’s. | We found no evaluation yet. Croatia Week |
| United Kingdom Unit price in store order 2004 | Unit price (per kilogram or litre) must be shown. | The regulator found “examples of non-compliance”, said problems stem from the order itself, and asked the government to reform it. The order · CMA review |
| European Union Unit price in store | Selling price and unit price must be shown (Directive 98/6/EC). | We found no EU-wide evaluation. EUR-Lex summary |
| Chile Unit price in store since Sept 2025 | Unit price required in supermarkets, in store and online; fines up to 300 UTM. | Too new to judge. Ministry of Economy |
| Australia Recommendation only | A unit pricing code exists. In March 2025 the competition regulator recommended the big three publish prices online, with data feeds from Coles and Woolworths. | A recommendation, not law (we could not verify that it has been legislated). The regulator says easier comparison “may increase” competition on price: a hypothesis, not a measured result. ACCC |
| Hungary Caps or tax, not price publication margin cap since March 2025 | Not a publication rule. Retail margins on 30 food categories are capped (the January 2025 average or 10%, whichever is lower), with fines per category. | Hungary’s central bank said the cap had a “significant inflation-reducing effect”. Industry bodies say it distorts the market, and the cap was still in force in September 2026. We could not verify reports of shortages. Legal 500 · MNB, 2025 · Daily News Hungary |
| France Caps or tax, not price publication since July 2024 | Not a publication rule. Stores over 400 m² must post a notice beside a product whose quantity shrank at the same price. In store only. | We found no evaluation. economie.gouv.fr |
| Spain Caps or tax, not price publication from January 2023 | Not a publication rule. Sales tax on basic foods was cut. | The competition regulator found no sign retailers failed to pass the cut on. CNMC, 2023 |
| Slovenia Caps or tax, not price publication | The government tracks a basket of basic foods and publishes the results. We could not verify that retailers are legally required to submit prices. | Its ninth inventory (January 2023) put the cheapest basket at EUR 44.12, with a spread of just under EUR 10 between cheapest and dearest. That is a snapshot, not an evaluation. gov.si |
| Quebec Unit price in store | Like food products must use the same unit of measure, in store only; rules on regular and loyalty prices. | The only Canadian province where unit pricing is required by law. OPC · Competition Bureau |
| The rest of Canada No price rule | No rule to publish prices or unit prices. | The Competition Bureau’s 2026 review notes the National Food Security Strategy “urges provinces and territories” to act, that Manitoba announced it intends to adopt unit pricing, and cites the Bank of Canada: grocery prices up 22% from 2022 to 2025, against 13% for other consumer prices. Competition Bureau, 2026 review |
Hungary, France, Spain and Slovenia are in the table because we could verify what they did; none of the four was found to require grocers to publish all prices online, and we found no evaluation of a price portal there. The effect of disclosure on prices is the open question: Israel’s first-year result is the strongest evidence we found, and its authors warn it may not last.
Prices that differ from person to person
In January 2025 the US Federal Trade Commission’s staff reported that location or browsing history “can be frequently used to target individual consumers with different prices”, with intermediaries serving clients from grocery stores to apparel retailers. In December 2025 an advocacy investigation of Instacart found basket totals varied by about 7%, and items by up to 23%, estimating about $1,200 a year for a family of four; Instacart calls the tests “negligible”. Canada’s Competition Bureau says its food-supply-chain examination covers loyalty programs, algorithmic pricing, shrinkflation and skimpflation, with a final report due in spring 2027. We found no Canadian measurement of personalised grocery prices.
FTC, January 2025 · Consumer Reports and partners, December 2025 · Competition Bureau notice
What we ask for, and why
We think Canada should do at least what Israel and Croatia do: require large grocers to publish their prices in a form anyone can compare, and require a unit price everywhere, not only in Quebec. The evidence is early and the warnings are real, so we ask for the data to be public and for the effect to be measured and reported, not for a promise of lower prices.
Checked October 20, 2026. Every fact in this section was read on the page linked beside it. Opinions say “we think”.
In the United States
Same squeeze, south of the border.
Sign with a ZIP code and you get the US letter, with US facts, for your U.S. Representative and your state.
7%
The FTC found U.S. food and beverage retailer revenues reached 7% over total costs in the first three quarters of 2023, above the 2015 peak of 5.6%.
The Shrinkflation Prevention Act of 2024 (S.3819) died when that Congress ended.
Haven’t signed yet?
Follow for campaign updates
We post every update here: new signatures, what MPs say back, and the fight for transparent prices.
Sources
- Competition Bureau Canada, Canada Needs More Grocery Competition (June 2023)
- Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, table 18-10-0004-01, September 2026
- LEGISinfo, Bill C-226 (45th Parliament, 1st session)
- Office of the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct (January 2026)
- House of Commons AGRI committee, Report 10 (2023)
- Office de la protection du consommateur (Quebec)
- Instacart.ca Help, item pricing
- CBC Marketplace, Instacart pricing (January 7, 2022)
- National Post, Uber Eats grocery order cost (June 26, 2025)
- Consumer Reports, Instacart pricing investigation (December 9, 2025) and follow-up (December 22, 2025)
- U.S. Federal Trade Commission (March 21, 2024)
- GovTrack, S.3819
- Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, sector overview (2024 exports)
- Canada Revenue Agency, Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and how much
- legislation.gov.uk, The Price Marking Order 2004 and CMA unit pricing review
- CEPR VoxEU, The effects of mandatory disclosure of supermarket prices (2018) and AEJ: Microeconomics (2023)
- Croatia Week, new price-listing obligations for retailers (2025)
- Chile, Ministry of Economy: unit price rule (2026)
- ACCC, supermarkets inquiry recommendations (March 2025)
- EUR-Lex, price indications on consumer products
- Office de la protection du consommateur, food price rules
- Competition Bureau, assessing progress on its retail grocery recommendations (2026) and the food supply chain examination
- US FTC, surveillance pricing (January 2025) and Consumer Reports and partners on Instacart (December 2025)
- House of Commons, Contact us (postage-free mail)
- House of Commons, how e-petitions work
Run by Lucilla, Inc. Not affiliated with any party, grocer or government body. Opinions on this page are ours; facts are linked to their sources. Countries and committee list checked October 20, 2026; other facts checked September 30, 2026. MP lookup by postal code uses Represent by Open North.