The Manitoba government is launching a provincial grocery study to identify new ways to reduce food costs and improve affordability for Manitobans.
As part of the study, the Manitoba government will examine predatory or differential pricing practices, including cases where companies use consumer data or purchasing patterns to raise prices.
These practices can result in some consumers paying more than others for the same groceries.
Adrien Sala is the province's Finance Minister.
"We will look at the grocery costs from end to end. Pricing practices, competition, access to food, and market concentration," said Sala. "We will identify real, workable actions the province can take. It's a comprehensive, province-led study that will help guide next steps, including potential affordability measures in Budget 2026."
The grocery study delivers on a commitment made in the 2025 throne speech.
Some objectives of the study include enabling greater access to healthy, nutritious food for those in congregate living settings like personal care homes, strengthening anti-trust and competition laws to help bring down rising costs at checkout by working with the federal government, and enabling price stability and examining regulations for staple food items, including two-litre and four-litre milk jugs.
Recently, the government announced it's freezing the price on one-litre jugs of milk. Sala said they will look into freezing the cost of two and four-litre jugs of milk.
"I think one of the main things we want to focus on with this study is looking at predatory pricing and how that may be impacting Manitobans," added Sala.
The Manitoba Bureau of Statistics will lead the study.
"They're going to engage researchers and experts as needed to get the data we need," said Sala. "Again, the focus here is to understand what the main drivers of grocery price increases are and what our province can do to respond to them. This is within the space of control for provinces. We are responsible for consumer protection and transparency. We want to know what we can do to lower grocery bills for Manitobans."
Sala added that Manitoba is setting itself apart from other provinces by conducting this study.
"And frankly, one of the exciting things that we're excited to things here we're happy to share with Manitobans is this makes us leaders in Canada," ended Sala. "We're the first province to launch a study to really look at this to understand how we ensure transparency and fairness in grocery prices. We can be proud as a province that we're going to be leaders in this front."
The study will begin immediately, and there is no time frame for how long it will take.
