Nunavut families to protest high food costs where whole chicken costs $65

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,906
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Low Earth Orbit
It's hard to feed a family when a bag of apples costs $15 and a spring chicken will set you back more than $60.

That's why the people of Nunavut are organizing a massive demonstration on Saturday - at home and in Ottawa - to protest the soaring cost of groceries in the territory.

It began with one woman, Leesee Papatsie, a mother of five in Iqaluit, who launched the Facebook page "Feeding My Family" to showcase the extreme prices.

The site features pictures of food on store shelves, with yellow tags depicting prices that would shock consumers in most of Canada.

A case of 12 Best Value pizza pops sells for $20. A box of Chip Ahoy is $11.29. A case of jelly-filled Billet Logs is $17.79.

And that's just the snacks. Healthier options, and some basic necessities, are much pricier.

A pack of spaghetti noodles is $13.49. A bag of apples costs about $15. Red peppers sell for $16.89 per kilogram. A whole chicken will set you back $64.99. And a box of 84 Pampers' diapers runs for $73.

The page urges people to protest outside their local stories on Saturday between 1 and 3 p.m.

More than 10,000 people - one third of the territory's population - has signed up.

A rally is also planned in Ottawa.

The high costs are due to high shipping costs, as food is flown in to the remote area.
 

TenPenny

Hall of Fame Member
Jun 9, 2004
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Location, Location
Don't they already get a special income tax deduction/credit to help offset this?

On the other hand, if you don't like the food prices, you could always move somewhere else.
 

The Old Medic

Council Member
May 16, 2010
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There is no way that prices like that can be justified. Either there is absolutely NO competition, or somebody is making a killing off of those people.
 

JLM

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 27, 2008
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Vernon, B.C.
The high costs are due to high shipping costs, as food is flown in to the remote area.

Time to build a road up there. :lol:

There is no way that prices like that can be justified. Either there is absolutely NO competition, or somebody is making a killing off of those people.

I'm not sure that the limited population would allow for much competition. The biggest city in the Territory has about 7,000 people.
 

MapleDog

Time Out
Jun 1, 2012
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Roads are apparently impossible to be built going north,and airports/airstrips still will make the shipping cost high,possibly if they built one or a couple of ports,shipping by boats bring bigger loads.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Roads are apparently impossible to be built going north,and airports/airstrips still will make the shipping cost high,possibly if they built one or a couple of ports,shipping by boats bring bigger loads.
By boat? Seems logical but fruit and veg don't take to well to long journeys.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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Roads are apparently impossible to be built going north,and airports/airstrips still will make the shipping cost high,possibly if they built one or a couple of ports,shipping by boats bring bigger loads.

Prawns and other seafood are shipped live direct from fish boats in BC to Japan at a decent price. We get mushrooms flown in from China cheaper than growing them here.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
22,836
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Possibly they could build some greenhouses up there,that would help,and they won't have to wait for tomato coming from the south.

I don't know much about the Artic, but I'm thinking greenhouses might
be impractical due to the extreme climate....but....they've been grow'n
dope (Gov't dope) in a mine at Flin Flon for years.

Hot stable climate unaffected by the weather extremes above. I wonder
if there's an aboandoned mine somewhere in the area that could be
utilized?
 

Machjo

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 19, 2004
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Ottawa, ON
Possibly they could build some greenhouses up there,that would help,and they won't have to wait for tomato coming from the south.

Electricity costs might be a little high for those greenhouses (like growing bananas in Ottwawa), but a cost analysis might be worthwhile seeing that flying them in might not actually be cheaper.

I would rather gov't subsidized them than the paybec kiddies.

The problem with subsidizing northerners is that it risks increasing the number of people moving there for jobs, not realizing the real cost to the taxpayer.

On the other hand, we can't let them starve either. Perhaps one option would be some kind of guaranteed employment programme with the possibility of transfer where they are needed. This would likely mean many being transfered to more firtile grounds.

I'm not saying this is a good idea, I don't know, but something worth considering in some form or other.
 

MapleDog

Time Out
Jun 1, 2012
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Electricity costs might be a little high for those greenhouses (like growing bananas in Ottwawa), but a cost analysis might be worthwhile seeing that flying them in might not actually be cheaper.



The problem with subsidizing northerners is that it risks increasing the number of people moving there for jobs, not realizing the real cost to the taxpayer.

On the other hand, we can't let them starve either. Perhaps one option would be some kind of guaranteed employment programme with the possibility of transfer where they are needed. This would likely mean many being transfered to more firtile grounds.

I'm not saying this is a good idea, I don't know, but something worth considering in some form or other.
Greenhouse with enough space between the layers of glass or whatever transparent material used,would be i think good,as for the electricity,if there is enough wind,wind turbines (small ones like those sold at Canadian Tire) and a few solar panels
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
39,778
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That's funny.

When I posted the UN report a few weeks ago on food security in this country, I got ridiculed.

Now everyone is jumping on the bandwagon.

Huh..
 

bill barilko

Senate Member
Mar 4, 2009
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Small scale nuclear reactors would go a long way to providing energy self sufficiency.

With cheap plentiful electricity they could indeed power greehhouses/raise their own chickens/whatever.