Even though food prices have been rising for months, the Director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University says Canadians are still spending less than most countries.

Sylvain Charlebois told delegates at the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities convention in Saskatoon Tuesday that Canada’s food inflation rate is third lowest among G7 nations, only behind the United States and Japan.

He also stated that Canadians spend 9 per cent of their household budget on food, which is the fifth lowest percentage in the world.

Charlebois acknowledged the increase in food prices in Canada but expects the food inflation rate to drop down in July or August.

He adds that although there is no evidence of so called “greedflation”, he thinks Loblaw has too much power as a company, and their power should be lessened to give other players in the food chain a chance to survive and compete.

Loblaw is the largest private employer in the country with 250,000 employees.