Manitoba premier plans to target ‘differential pricing’ for groceries in new year

WINNIPEG — The Manitoba government is looking at cracking down on so-called “differential pricing” on groceries and implementing further controls on milk as part of its ongoing attempts to contain the rising cost of living.

Differential pricing refers to a practice where people can be charged different prices for the same grocery product from the same store.

“An online grocery seller might charge people different prices based on their demographic information that have been tracked online,” Premier Wab Kinew said in a year-end interview with The Canadian Press.

“Third-party apps are definitely one example that we’ve seen. Third-party delivery apps can charge people different prices based on what they know about you as an online consumer. And we just want to see fairness, and we want to see better prices.”

Kinew didn’t provide local examples.

The issue has emerged in the United States, where a recent report by Consumer Reports and two advocacy groups said the online platform Instacart charged different prices for the same grocery items for online customers shopping at the same store.

Instacart, in a blog post this month, said it’s not a retailer and doesn’t control base prices listed on its website. It said retailers often test different prices in order to judge consumer sensitivity.

The Retail Council of Canada, which represents major grocers and others, said its members apply standard pricing.

“While prices can vary based on membership programs or the quantities purchased, they are consistently available to all customers at the same time,” John Graham, the council’s regional director for the Prairies, wrote in an email.

Manitoba’s government is also looking at expanding its control over the price of milk, although Kinew didn’t provide details.

Currently, the province sets a wholesale price for milk and a maximum retail price. But the maximum retail price only applies to one-litre containers.

“It is an area that we’re looking at,” the premier said. “The balance, of course, is we’ve got dairy producers in Manitoba (and) we want to make sure those producers can keep their head above water.”

Other measures are expected following a study on grocery prices that was promised in the government’s throne speech in November.

Kinew’s NDP made affordability a key part of its 2023 election campaign and the government has already tried to tackle grocery prices. Kinew said in 2024 he expected prices to be controlled when the province temporarily suspended its fuel tax. But food inflation in Manitoba was, for a time, higher than the national average due to factors such as high beef prices on the Prairies.

The government also recently enacted a law aimed at opening up competition in the grocery sector. The law bans property deals that might prevent new grocery stores from opening close to existing ones.

But inflation has continued. The latest monthly data from Statistics Canada says Manitoba’s inflation rate in November was the highest among the provinces when compared to November 2024, driven partly by transportation costs and property taxes.

Now more than halfway into his first mandate, Kinew recently mused about calling the next election before the scheduled date of Oct. 5, 2027.

In the year-end interview, he said he’s not considering an early vote at this time.

“I can say 2026 is not going to be an election year,” Kinew said.

“We’ve got a full docket of bills, and we’ve got a lot of heavy lifting with the budget, and there’s a lot to do on health care.”

Kinew also said he has no plans to lift a ban on alcohol products from the U.S. at government-run liquor stores.

The ban was implemented in March in response to tariffs imposed by the U.S. on Canadian goods, and the province recently decided to sell off stock that had been sitting in warehouses.

U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer recently said lifting provincial bans on American liquor is necessary for upcoming negotiations on extending the Canada-U.S.-Mexico agreement, known as CUSMA.

Kinew said Americans need to show compromise.

“We plan to maintain this, of course, until the Trump tariffs get removed,” Kinew said.

“Canada has stood down from a number of things so far over the course of 2025, and I don’t see what we’ve got in return for that.

“I would want us to get something in return.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 22, 2025.

— With files from The Associated Press

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press