Manitoba eyes shrinkflation law, grocery store in downtown Winnipeg
Posted June 22, 2026 1:03 pm.
Last Updated June 22, 2026 9:50 pm.
With the removal of the PST on groceries set to kick in July 1st, the province released the findings of its grocery price study, and with it came three new measures that they say will help Manitobans with food costs.
“We know that food affordability is one of the biggest challenges that families are facing, and so we’re going to continue doing the important work of finding ways of reducing grocery bills for Manitobans,” said Adrien Sala, Minister of Finance.
The three measures include implementing unit pricing to combat shrinkflation, addressing food insecurity and preventing food waste, with A $2.5-million investment into Harvest Manitoba’s Food Transformation Centre, and reintroducing Nutritious Food Basket data collection to measure the price of food in different regions across the province.
“All of that builds on the other good work that we’ve already done, and yeah we do expect to see some downward pressure on food inflation as a result of these various measures that we’re taking,” said Sala.
Sala also touched on the idea of a potential new downtown grocery to improve access to affordable food.
“I’m glad they’re doing something; could they do more? Absolutely. What would that be? I would love to have the idea that would be the panacea to fix it all, but I don’t,” said Lianne Paturel, a consumer.
Dave Waldie, another consumer, said, “Maybe it isn’t enough, but they can only do so much really with the budget they have; they already run a deficit.”
PC leader Obby Khan was highly critical of the study results and doesn’t feel Monday’s announcement will have any real impact.
“This government is failing to take tangible, measurable, real changes to how groceries are being purchased by families, and we offered solutions like the basic personal exemption giving families back more money, calling on the federal government to remove the industrial carbon tax, both step that this government could have done, refused to do, instead they want to sprinkle pennies at you,” said Khan.
Sala said, “There is more work to be done, this study sets us forward on our next steps, and Manitobans can count on the fact that our government is going to continue to keep working to lower your grocery prices.”
