Olivia Chow has announced a plan to lower grocery prices through an outright ban on surveillance pricing and property tax breaks for community grocers but her opponent in the mayoral race is accusing her of rehashing old policies. “Right now, things are hard for community grocery stores and the families they serve. Food has become too expensive. We don’t want to have mums and dads putting something back at the checkout because they can’t afford it,” the mayoral candidate said at a news conference Friday. Chow previously put forward a motion as mayor to direct the city manager to investigate all possible mechanisms to ban the practice, which can alter prices for customers both online and in-store based on their spending habits and demographic. The motion passed in July. “Two people could buy the same groceries, but one person pays more because the technology thinks they will. Your bill should not depend on what a company knows about you,” she said. The second plank of Chow’s four-point plan offers to cut taxes for independent grocery stores, which she said could save a smaller business as much as $5,000 a year on their property tax bill. She said the discount works out to 50 per cent of what a “big corporate chain” grocery store would pay today. She estimated that there are about 450 independent grocery stores currently operating in Toronto. Chow said the plan would also help open more grocery stores by connecting “mom-and-pop” businesses with vacant storefronts on main streets. She said she would also take aim at “restrictive covenants” which prevent grocery stores from opening up at the former site of their competitors, something candidate Brad Bradford has also proposed. ‘She’s reannouncing my plan and calling it hers’: Bradford’s team responds In a statement to CTV News, Bradford’s team accused Chow of re-hashing previously announced policies, some of which he said are his own. “Look at what she actually announced. The surveillance pricing bylaw? Council voted for that in July. It’s already coming back to Council. The property tax discount for independent grocers? Small main street businesses already get a break on their property taxes. I moved three times to raise it from 15% to 25%, and NDP Mayor Chow voted against it all three times. The ask to the province on restrictive covenants? I made that commitment before the Daily Bread debate. She’s reannouncing my plan and calling it hers.” In an email addressing Bradford’s remark, Chow’s team pointed out that the city moved in March to work with the province to remove the ability of large grocers to restrict competitors from operating on or near their properties. The motion was part of larger plan to introduce city-operated grocery stores. “Brad voted against it, so actually Brad’s commitment was a reannouncement of her ask, and a reversal of his position (we affectionately call it a flip flop),” a spokesperson said in an email. Chow’s team also noted that the city approved increasing municipal tax rate reduction, from 15 per cent to 20 per cent for properties within the Small Business Property Tax Subclass, in February. Bradford did not make an announcement Friday morning, but spent time with mothers of young children in East York to highlight the tentpoles of his campaign: affordability, traffic, and public safety.
