Is the shortage of groceries caused by the truck convoy? 5 myths explode

What causes grocery shortages?

The public discourse on the nature of grocery outages has degenerated into an all-consuming food battle, while politicians and experts are blabbering on about the cause and severity of Canada’s lacking ingredients.

Last week, Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman tweeted an image of an empty grocery rack with a call to “reverse the (vaccine) mandate” the federal government imposed on truck drivers earlier this month. The statue, it appears, was taken in northern England.

Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull, meanwhile, accused the Conservatives of “fearing political gain” by sharing images of empty grocery stores and disgruntled truck drivers. Dozens of people in turn used social media to share their own images of food shortages at their local Metro, Loblaws and Sobeys outlets.

There is little doubt that groceries are in a stricter supply – and certainly more expensive – than they were before the pandemic. But the seriousness of the issue can vary depending on geographic location and provider, and the rhetoric can often be exaggerated.

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor of food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, recently gave a word of reassurance to concerned buyers:

“Canadian consumers need to know it will go well. “Operations across the supply chain are currently incredibly turbulent, but they will continue to find what they need, albeit with fewer choices,” he said.

A wide variety of factors have contributed to food disruption. Here’s a deeper look:

Neither the truck convoy nor the vaccine mandates are solely responsible for food interruptions.

A rally of truck drivers and their supporters weaved through Alberta and Saskatchewan on Monday as they headed to Ottawa to protest a federal policy requiring truck drivers to be vaccinated to keep their jobs.

According to the Canadian Trucking Alliance and the American Trucking Associations, the mandate can prevent as many as 26,000 truck drivers who regularly cross the border between Canada and the US from delivering goods.

The figure reflects about 16 percent of the 160,000 truck drivers who regularly cross the border, and does not include the multitude of truck drivers who transport food items within Canada alone. It also does not include the items that are regularly transported on railways, such as grain, meat and canned food.

While the sidelines of drivers certainly do not help food circulation in Canada, and may prevent some shipments from being fulfilled on time, they are not so widespread that they are primarily responsible for shortages.

But the mandate has still drawn criticism from experts who warn that it could exacerbate an already existing problem.

“In the middle of January with Omicron and snowstorms, I was just not convinced that it was the right time. “Some empty shelves will be the result of what is going on at the border,” said Charlebois.

2. A wide variety of factors have contributed to food disruption

Canadian grocery stores faced supply constraints long before the mandate of truck drivers was implemented, mainly due to a mix of extreme weather, labor issues, COVID-19 outbreaks and logistics.

Severe floods in BC late last year devastated large parts of farmland in the Fraser Valley, a major supplier of poultry, dairy and products already damaged by wildfires earlier this year.

Recent winter storms have not helped. Last week, when Toronto faced the heaviest snowfall in more than a decade, local grocers reported delayed deliveries due to trucks unable to navigate icy and unploughed terrain.

COVID-19 outbreaks have meanwhile led to disruptions at farms and manufacturers. A recent ban on new migrant workers in agriculture in Windsor-Essex County, where most of Canada’s greenhouse products are grown, has likely contributed to a decline in production.

And labor revolution has also put pressure on the supply of food. While the trucking industry has experienced a shortage of workers for the duration of the pandemic, workers’ strikes at food manufacturers have affected supply.

A month-long strike at Kellogg’s late last year may have contributed to an undersupply of the brand’s grain and other products in Canadian stores.

3. Disruptions will lead to fewer options, rather than large deficits

Do not stockpile.

Experts have assured Canadians that the vast majority of people – with the exception of those in remote areas who often rely on air shipments of products – will be able to put food on their table, with only fewer options.

“Consumers may not always get what they want sometimes, but they will always get what they need at the grocery store,” said Charlebois.

4. Supply chain issues, not consumer demand, drive food costs and disruptions

Early in the pandemic, consumer supplies of toilet paper and canned food left grocery aisles bare while households turned their cellars into self-styled apocalypse bunkers.

Now the availability issues are coming from the supply side. All of the factors mentioned above appear to outweigh the buying interest of buyers.

That’s what makes these problems so worrying, Charlebois said.

“Shortages of both toilet paper and food were the result of consumer panic together with a collapsing food service industry. This time it is the supply chain challenges, ”he said.

5. If you did not find the spinach you were looking for, try again tomorrow

Sometimes, what turns out to be a shortage is actually just temporary low inventory. An empty shelf is not proof of a widespread problem.

If you can not find cherry tomatoes at the supermarket, try the independent grocery store down the street, or come check it out again tomorrow, experts advise.

You can also inquire about the items from a store manager.

Anecdotally, a product manager at Metro recently told me they had short spinach due to a COVID-19 outbreak at their distributor, along with some trouble transporting items during Toronto’s snowstorm.

Five days later, the item was on the shelf again.