The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, June 1, edition that Many Canadians are wondering why food prices are not dropping at the same rate as agricultural commodity prices right now. The Globe's guest columnist Sylvain Charlebois writes that there are several factors that lead to an increase in grocery prices. These include labour challenges and wages, along with measures such as carbon pricing and currency fluctuations. There is also the issue of trade restrictions and embargoes. Not to mention packaging costs and adjustments to changing regulations. Supply chain economics are also impacted by many factors, where the effect of numerous transactional costs outweighs how input costs impact retail prices. Meanwhile, companies such as PepsiCo have hiked their prices to protect profit margins. Mr. Charlebois says the other culprit rarely talked about is public spending. He says the "grocery rebate" Ottawa introduced in this year's budget is a one-time rebate of the goods and services tax that gives households a maximum of $467. However, it does not help our food inflation problem one bit. Instead, it exacerbates it. Mr. Charlebois says the rebate reflects a long line of bad decisions by our governments.