If the polls prove correct, a plurality of B.C. voters will be celebrating their electoral victory May 14, but the majority will be lamenting their loss.
Either way, voters and their political candidates will have a wide selection of relatively affordable gastronomic items with which to commiserate or celebrate with like-minded folk.
According to the latest consumer price index (CPI) data from Statistics Canada, the cost of basic grocery items in B.C. has remained below the national average, even though prices have risen more than 25% over the past decade.
Food prices have risen slower in B.C. for products ranging from breakfast basics like bread, butter, cereal, coffee, cheese and eggs to main lunch and dinner items like fish, beef and chicken.
Overall, the relatively lower prices for these nutritional essentials have offset the relatively more expensive dietary items like fresh fruit, vegetables, milk, sugar and pork – all of which have become more expensive in B.C. relative to the Canadian average. But if filling one’s stomach is secondary to losing one’s sobriety on election night, unfortunately, that’s not going to come cheap. According to Statistics Canada, alcohol bought in stores in B.C. has been relatively more expensive than the national average.
With the elimination of the HST, however, it won’t be as financially burdensome to celebrate an electoral victory at B.C.’s restaurants next month, which have seen overall costs for consumers drop since the PST was reintroduced April 1.
According to StatsCan, the price of restaurant food jumped when the HST was introduced in 2010, pushing the price increases above the national average for the first time in years. B.C. restaurateurs’ sales have edged up slowly over the past couple years, but perhaps the PST will provide an added boost in a historically challenging business.
While buying drinks in restaurants is relatively more expensive than buying from a liquor store, restaurant owners in B.C. haven’t been increasing the price to drink. The CPI data shows average prices of alcoholic drinks in B.C. restaurants have remained relatively flat, while they have continued to rise nationally.
So eat up and drink up on May 14. It’s going to be a tough, transformational time in B.C. over the next four years.
