Big News out of Toronto - Toronto councillors approve city-run grocery store pilot project
Just on the heels of COPE's defeated Public Grocery Store Pilot motion, defeated by ABC, Toronto City Council just approved a public grocery store pilot, an identical motion recently put forward by Sean Orr (COPE)
Toronto just upped Vancouver big time.
Congratulations to Toronto for their efforts to address food affordability.
——————————————————————
Reprinted from the Toronto Star (on-line)
Justin Holmes
Thu, March 26, 2026
Toronto City Hall is so good at filling potholes, they’re now planning to put a chicken in every pot.
City council approved a pilot project late Thursday, proposed by Councillor Anthony Perruzza, that calls for four city-run grocery stores. His hope is that if the stores “forgo” profits and get a break on property taxes, Torontonians can buy good food for less.
“People are having trouble making ends meet. We all know that. We all hear that,” Perruzza told Thursday’s council meeting.
Mayor Olivia Chow threw a couple of extra items in Perruzza’s grocery cart. She amended his motion to expand what would have been a report strictly on ways to figure out city-run stores to also cover a list of food-related subjects, such as exploring “policy levers available to the city to prevent price gouging by grocery and other retailers.”
Chow thanked Perruzza for bringing the idea forward, and told council she thinks voters are “hungry for innovative thinking.”
Perruzza’s proposal passed 21-3, with Brad Bradford, Jon Burnside and Stephen Holyday opposed. Mike Colle and Josh Matlow were absent.
While Michael Thompson voted in favour, he didn’t give the concept his full endorsement, calling it a “huge risk.”
He said he understands both the objective and the issue, but he’d “prefer to see incentives” rather than having the government running grocery stores.
“I’m really concerned about us being all things to all people, quite frankly, and not being successful at it,” he added.
Toronto Councillor Anthony Perruzza is pushing for city-run grocery stores.
‘Terrible idea’
A fellow Scarborough councillor, Paul Ainslie, was more enthusiastic but warned the idea needed “some additional consultation.”
He told those in the council chambers that before entering politics, he spent some 20 years in the food sector, much of that in distribution. He said he had “some concerns” with a meagre four-store model.
“There’s a whole discussion we can have around food costs,” Ainslie said, “but I would like to hear from some industry experts on what the opportunities are for (them) to deliver this, because food security in this city is a huge issue that we need to deal with.”
