A business expert at the University of Saskatchewan says the federal government’s Groceries and Essentials Benefit will be of little help in the long-term.

Several weeks ago, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the increase and renaming of the GST Credit in hopes of providing a tool to combat the cost of living.

Dean of Edward’s School of Business Keith Willoughby says although the benefit might be helpful in the near term for low-income families, it won’t have a significant impact on grocery prices, which have skyrocketed 27 per cent in the last 5 years in Canada.

He says although it is a global issue, “Canada now has been labeled the food inflation capital of the G7, which is not a title that Canada really wants to have.”

Willoughby commends the government for attempting to alleviate some of the challenge but thinks “there is a broader set of perspectives that government and industry need to collaborate on to try and reduce some of the inflationary challenges that Canadians are facing with food prices.”

He suggests a more long-term measure would do a better job of combatting food prices, such as alleviate supply chain bottlenecks, address labour scarcity, and enhance Canada’s food processing capacity, and offer incentives for new players to enter grocery industry.

“What we’ve seen over the past number of years is a steady consolidation of players in the grocery industry. So, right now across Canada, there’s really five major players…A number of years ago, there might have been as many as eight.”

Looking ahead to 2026, he isn’t much more optimistic. Willoughby says the average family is expected to spend $18,000 on groceries this year, $1000 more than in 2025.