Alberta government meeting with grocers to address food affordability: minister

Alberta's government says it's meeting with some of Canada's largest grocers to address food affordability in the province.

Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally says in a statement that the cost of food has gone up across the country and the world.

He says the government is meeting with grocery owners because lowering costs for Albertans is its top priority.

Premier Danielle Smith told her provincewide radio show on Saturday (April 18) that many Albertans are frustrated with their increased food bills.

READ: Inflation jumps to 2.4% in March driven by Iran war oil shock, StatCan says

She said the cost of items such as eggs, ham, chicken and milk has gone up.

Smith said the government plans to discuss with grocery store owners how to bring down the price of food staples.

"Dale Nally, who comes from the grocery business, he's meeting with grocery store owners to find out the kind of things that we can do to try to address the issue of food prices," she said.

"Every time (people) go to the grocery store, they remember what it used to be and they're saying, 'How the heck did things get so expensive?'"

This is a corrected story. A previous version included the wrong spelling of Dale Nally's last name in a quote.