How the Iran war is going to impact your grocery bill

0:00America leads the world in medicine development. It matters. We get new medicines first nearly three years faster. Five million Americans go to work because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe. But China is racing to overtake us. Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead? When America leads, America cures. Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead. Learn how at americancures.com. Pay for by pharma. So let's get into our first topic of the day. Survivors and the community are saying no to Filipino BC's Lapu Lapu 2026. It's been almost one year since the horrific vehicle ramming attack at the Lapu Lapu Festival in Vancouver. As the public celebration of Filipino heritage was winding down on April 26th last year, a vehicle drove into the crowd just off Fraser Street, killing 11 people and injuring over 30 more with the fallout deeply affecting the wider community.

1:05The festival is moving ahead again this year, but not everyone is on board. Some are opposed to Filipino BC's plans. They say the Lapu Lapu Day of Togetherness event that will be held at the Italian Cultural Center on April 19th. It's just not the right time. But while many survivors are still struggling to get well, questions are also swirling about transparency of donation funds at Filipino BC. And all of this has some survivors wanting to put the brakes on another festival for right now. So joining us to explain more is Antonio Ortega, Lapu Lapu Society President. Hello and thank you for joining us Antonio. Hi. Hello. Good morning. How are you? I am well. Thank you. How are you? Yeah, I am good, but let's spot this way. I am good, but not exactly good. Yeah, and why is that? Is it the rain? Does it have to do with Lapu Lapu Festival plans?

2:09Yeah, you know, I am from actually from Shibu. Shibu is the place of Lapu Lapu. So I am part of the descendants of Lapu Lapu. Oh, wow. And then I coming to Canada, I work in the government city government of Lapu Lapu. And I know how we exactly do the celebration of Lapu Lapu. And then we just want to let you know, you name it Chris, right? Carous, yes. Carous, yes. I just want to let the public know that becoming of Lapu Lapu in other the situation of Lapu Lapu in the Philippines, place also a very vital goal about Christianity. So it is a celebration of cultural arts and Christianity. So why am I saying it's not good because to Lapu Lapu and then we are now when we are almost coming the one next celebration after the accident.

3:15I am part, I am a part of the Philippine Visi and I quit. So yeah, I am actually not good because I am hearing the sentiments of the survivors, they said they did not have to receive the exact help that they are supposed to get. Talking to them, your heart is aching because we did not expect it to happen. Yeah, that's one thing. So would you say that the community members that you're hearing from, they were not expecting another festival to be planned this year? There is a noise, I know the Philippine Visi, they posted on the social media. And in the beginning they want to have it three days, then because of the community

4:20became noise about why are we doing that? And then they changed the dynamic again. But when hearing from the noise, they came out, they don't want that celebration initiated by the Philippine Visi. Now you were Antonio, you were on the board at Filipino Visi. Can you tell me why you left? I cannot compromise my values just to be with them. And can you explain further what you mean by that? I think Karen, there is a demand letter to the Philippine Visi that was, I believe that was October. And I believe the media outlet has a copy for that. If you want me to explain further,

5:20if I know that this is not right, and the community will be not fair for the community, I need to quit for that. I need to quit my affiliation for that. So are there survivors saying that there were donations that went to Filipino Visi that were supposed to go to them, but they have not received? According to their stories, when we were hearing their stories, we have a lot of money coming from the community. And I believe the community came in donated because the ones to help to the victim. But the problem now is, did they not receive exactly what I suppose to receive? How can you hear that people,

6:23survived boys, saying that they only received $300. So get certificate, a bunch of basket of grocery. They were told just to go to this, just if you need a grocery, just go to the store so you can get the worst price of groceries that you wanted to buy. For me, an ethical, it's very an ethical. And so what kind of recourse do you have or do survivors have in this case? How are they approaching this? So they're actually part of the demand for the transparency and accountability because they know there is money intended for them coming for the community. And they are, they're more coming, they're more coming, they want to, they want to let the community know that is what is actually

7:23exactly happening. And I'm sure that the community, the donors will get mad for that because they did it, they donated religiously, religiously with intention in helping to the big promise. When do you think the community may be ready for another festival? Karen, if there is another festival to happen, as a guy coming from Sepul, he's more familiar about lapo lapo, honos lapo lapo. I think there is a very big role for that. I am coming from Sepul and I believe I have a big role for that because we don't want to happen. If there is a celebration, we need to do it rightly. And we will do it according to what is good for the community that really reflects the culture, the resiliency

8:24and the legacy of lapo, lapo, lapo, lapo, or the Filipino community, but for disabled and in particular. We'll have to leave it there, Antonio, but thank you very much for taking the time to talk with me. And I wish you well and I hope that you and the people in your community are doing okay this spring and beyond, obviously, but I know this must be a hard time coming up. Best wishes to you, Antonio. Be well. Thank you, Karen. You've been there, settling in for an evening of TV only to waste half the night scrolling. Enter Fire TV. Entertainment with zero effort required. Fire TV serves up personalized recommendations from across all your apps. Not sure what to watch? Just tell Alexa Plus what you're in the mood for and she'll pull up the perfect recommendation. Problem solved. Stop the scroll,

9:27start the show. Find what you're looking for with Fire TV. Subscriptions may be required. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. You can add protein, cold foam to your favorite drink or try one of our new protein lattes or matcha. Try it today at Starbucks. Hello, how are you? I'm Karris Hogg filling in for Jill Bennett. Today you can always text or call the Buzzline. You can leave a phone message if you would like. 604-331 buzz. That's 604-331-2899. Well, as the war in Iran rages on gas prices here are up. But what about food prices? Are they going to go up too? With the price of oil skyrocketing amid the US's Rayleigh attacks on Iran, some are bracing for the potential impacts on the agriculture sector. So here on the show now to

10:30help us with some more insight is Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agre Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. Hello, Dr. Sylvain. Good afternoon. So how important is energy to our food system? It's pretty darn important because the food industry is very energy intensive. When you think about farming, when you think about processing and of course distribution and all the trucks you need to move things around, especially in our vast country of ours, it gets expensive. And so when oil goes up in price, close to $100, all of a sudden, and that's really the key words here, all of a sudden because in 2008 with the financial crisis and 2022 with the Ukrainian invasion, both times oil prices skyrocketed just like now. And two, three months later, we saw

11:35fruit inflation just fall low. And it really heard a lot of households. Well, and I mean, we are dealing with high prices at the grocery store we have been for years now, you know, with food prices feeling like they're going up constantly. So what kind of spikes did we see in those previous instances as you mentioned at the grocery store? Essentially, you're looking at, for example, products that are reliant on a cold chain, for example, products that are heavy. So think of meat products, for example, dairy products. Those categories are very vulnerable. And also the bulky stuff like rice, flour, sugar, and all these things actually tend to cost more as a result of higher energy costs in general. And what's worth this time around to be honest is what the White House is doing with oil prices down, playing the impact of the

12:40state of Hormuz being closed. Last week, the barrel of oil actually fluctuated between $78 U.S. versus $98 U.S. So it doesn't matter when that happens. It doesn't matter what happens to the price of oil, transport companies, anybody providing energy to support fruit manufacturing and everything else and everyone else will high ball the price of energy. So it'll charge as much as possible because it just want to make sure that it will lose money. And so what kind of increases do you think we might see? You said maybe about two to three months from now is when it'll reach grocery stores? Like what are we, what kind of sticker shock should we expect to find? Well, we were expecting a drop in food and station, which is exactly what we got this morning for February 5.4%. So things are dropping and we were expecting that food and station to continue

13:43to drop. What has changed now, likely because of what's going on in Iran is that that will stop eventually in probably in March, like right now. And we'll start seeing food and station go up again to anywhere between six to seven percent. So we were actually expecting a bit of a break. It is food inflation. So prices are still rising, but a much smaller pace. That pace could pick up as a result of what happened in Iran. And so you said bulky, big, heavy items are going to be affected more. I mean, is that across the board? If it's even if it's produced locally, does that make much of a difference? Well, I mean, local tends to be more expensive, but you're absolutely right. Local production, local chains are less vulnerable to what's happening, but they still need energy to produce. And scales are necessarily as significant as with other

14:47manufacturers. So honestly, when energy costs go up, very few categories are immune to to that. And so we are expecting most categories to be impacted, but some will be impacted more. And that's and those are products that are relying on the coal chain. What do you think Canada's best way forward is given this situation? Well, I mean, I would say, I mean, Ottawa can do some things. For example, on April 1st, the industrial carbon tax, which is still there, will increase by $15 to $110. Now, there's a lot of things actually were brought down to zero last year. The consumer part of the tax and diesel combustion, but there are a lot of things, a lot of elements that do impact that will actually put more pressure on the food system that will actually force prices even higher. It will actually amplify the increase in energy costs. And so I would certainly look into

15:54what can we do on April 1st should we pause the increase for while making sure for the food industry, particularly to make sure that producers do have some wiggle room because the problem with food versus other sectors that they just know wiggle room. That's certainly one thing I would do. All right. Well, we'll have to leave it there. Thank you very much. Take care. Bye-bye. Hello, how you doing? It's Monday. I'm Keras filling in for Jill today. God, it's just so dry out there, isn't it? It's just I'm parched like I need to drink something. I just feel like my hands are dry. Anyway, it's very wet. I hope that you're not getting drowned somewhere. I hope you're having a great day. If you have any comments on anything you hear on the show, feel free to call the Buzzline. You can text or leave a voice message at 604-331-Buzz that's 604-331-2899.

16:59You will no longer need to pay an extra charge to cancel or change your internet or cell phone plan. This after an announcement last week from the CRTC. The regulator says it is eliminating extra fees to activate, change, or cancel a plan, giving consumers more flexibility to manage their plans and take advantage of better offers without getting that unexpected extra cost. So here to tell us more about how this will affect consumers is Mike Agarbo, CEO and executive producer of Get Connected Media. Welcome to the show, Mike. Thanks for having me. How prevalent are these fees for changing or canceling internet and cell phone plans? Well, I think they're quite prevalent. If you typically sign out for new cell phone plans in many cases, there is typically an activation fee and that can be anywhere for 50 to 80 dollars and that kind of adds up. And if you're trying to cancel anything when it comes to like home internet, for example, in a lot of the contracts that you

18:05signed to get that good deal. In many cases, they're going to charge you anywhere from 10 to 20 dollars a month remaining on that contract. So again, that could be in the hundreds of dollars. So this looks like it's trying to do away with those fees just to make it a little more competitive and hopefully save consumers money. And you said looks like, I mean, are you, is it not really clear what the CRTC has come down with? Yeah, I'm just wondering from a contract standpoint, like typically, you know, if I sign up with my home internet service provider, they're offering a special rate if I sign on for two years. And I don't know, you know, 100% if that's going to be out the window now, like if I've signed up for a two year contract and this new rule has come in place, do I still have to pay that cancellation fee? That's something that, you know, I'd have to dig into a little bit more. But I think we just all have to realize as well, like when these fees go away, these are big companies corporations that rely on that incoming revenue. They're going to have to

19:09make it up somewhere else. So even though it might look like we're saving money, I think there is going to be fees happening elsewhere. A lot of times, you know, there's free installation happening now. They might go back to charging, you know, for in-home visits to set up, you know, the internet router and then modem. So I think that'll probably be the case. So overall, you know, do you see this being a win for consumers? I think it's going to make it easier for consumers to shop around and to make the switches. I just question if we're overall saving money in the long run. Like I said, you know, these big corporations, they just don't like seeing, you know, revenue evaporate. They're going to have to make it somewhere else. They're beholden to shareholders. So if there's suddenly millions of dollars gone from these fees, they have to make that up somewhere else. So I think it's going to be the case, you know, we might not always see it, but it's going to be there somehow in increased, you know,

20:09costs for our home internet and cell phone plans or there's going to be other fees somewhere. I don't know where, but I think from a competition and change standpoint, I think that's a good thing. Is this, yeah, is this kind of tinkering around the edges, you know, of making cell phone and internet net plans more affordable? Yeah, I think we're getting pretty good on the affordability, you know, scale, you know, on the cell phone plans, you know, over the past couple of years, they have just bottomed out, in my opinion, as far as, you know, the monthly rates, you're getting some pretty good deals now and getting, you know, over 100 gigabits or gigabytes of data, you know, in the 40 to $45 range, if you shop around. So I think the competition is really kind of heated up in that aspect. And, you know, home internet, there's not as much competition, you know, typically you have the two big players in any market, you know, here, it would be tell us and, you know, Rogers, for example, I know there's some kind of third party players, but they're basically

21:13wholesaling internet off the, you know, the bigger players. So it'd be interesting to see if those rates go down as well. Well, and cell phone and internet plans in Canada are quite expensive, you know, if you compare them globally, is that correct? Yeah, again, I think over the, like from, you know, wireless cell phone plans, I think they've really come a long way over the past, you know, two, three years. So I think we're getting more competitive in that aspect. Some would say, yeah, they are a little bit higher, but I think it is getting getting better. Do you think it could get even better better? I can always dream. You know, well, yeah, you know, with video, Tron coming into the market, they have freedom mobile. They've really disrupted the market with their plans, you know, lots of data, cheap prices, like in the $40 range, and you know, free roaming in not only the US, but a lot

22:15of international destinations. I think that's really given, you know, the incumbents a big run for their money. So you always see when there's more competition in a marketplace, the prices, they do come down. So it'd be nice, you know, if we can see home internet shaking up a little bit, I don't know how we can make that happen. But, you know, I think they're trending in the right direction. Home internet, I think it'd be nice if they could go down a little bit faster. Right. And if people have questions, you know, if they have, they're looking at their cell phone plan or their internet plan, and there are fees there that they're not sure about. They think, hey, wait a second, you know, that was supposed to, you know, why am I being charged this? According to the CRTC, I don't have to pay those cancellation or change fees anymore. What do you just call your provider and say, hey, this is incorrect. Can you take that off? What should people do? Yeah, they would, I would contact,

23:16you know, their, their carrier just to see what's going on there. You can also contact the CRTC to make a complaint as well. I, you know, from, from my standpoint, you know, over the years, I've always found the best way to get a better price is to switch carriers, you know. A lot of people think, you know, the phone in, that's kind of a first step to see if you can get a better deal. You might get a bit of a better deal, but I've always found by completely switching carriers, the, the price has gone down for me over, you know, the, the long term. So if you don't think you're getting a good deal, phone them, see if they'll give you a better deal. If not switch to another carrier and you'd be surprised that your former carrier will probably phone you with a, you know, a retention or a loyalty reward to try to get you back. Yeah, they're always the, it works. They're always the bad boyfriend, you know, they only want to help you out when you're like, I'm leaving by you have been bad to me and they're like, no, no, no, come on. I'll be good. I promise. I'll be better this time, baby. Yeah, but so that's, that's what you have to realize

24:19that they do have loyalty departments, right? So that's kind of your first step to call in, but there is a whole other department after you've left them that they then come back with even sweeter offers. So remember that loyalty can only go so far in the loyalty department. The better deals are when you actually leave. Okay. So that process looks like you, you call up the place that you want to go to and you say, hey, I want to come over. Yeah. And then you wait for your current provider to then call you and say, hey, no, I got a better deal. And then you play them off each other. Is that the thing that you have to do? No, you make the switch like I was with one carrier for my home internet. They were charging me. I think about $110 a month. And I also had home phone as well, which I think was another $10, $15. And you know, I phone them and said, hey, I see competitors giving better deals and like, well, we can only offer another $5. And so I just

25:20completely made a switch over to the other carrier. And within two weeks, my previous one actually phone back and said, hey, we'll give you everything for $50. And so then what did you do? Did you then just leave again? Did you go back? I did. Yeah, because I phoned the new one that I'd switched to. And they said, no, we can't match that. Okay. Switch back to the back. I mean, is that a pain in the butt though with all of the paperwork and stuff? It's, you know, it's a little bit, but not really. Like it only, it probably took about 15 minutes of my time. So it wasn't a big deal. Sure. They had to send a technician again. And you know, my new server provider was not happy about it. Yeah. No, I'm sure because they were just there two weeks ago. Like, what's going on? I know, but it's funny. Right. And then they kept, they after I switched back, you know, the new carrier, which was now gone, they kept following me back for like months trying to win,

26:22win me over again, but they could never match that $50 price. So I think, you know, that was like, that's six, you know, $600 a year. Yeah. That's a lot of money. Significant. Yeah. It adds up. So just do the switch. Don't be afraid. Okay. All right. Well, thank you very much for the tips. I appreciate it, Mike. Stay dry this afternoon. I'll try. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the Jill Bennett Show podcast. Can't wait for the latest episode to drop. Tune in to the Jill Bennett Show live from noon till three on seven thirty CKNW. Have a question or comment. Send me an email. Jill at CKNW.com. Thanks again for listening. Hello there. Thursdays on global. I'm Madeline Matlock. She's the lawyer with the legendary name. Don't underestimate Miss Matlock. This one is a shark. You know it, baby. The one you can trust, even if she has to bend the rules. Things aren't always as black

27:24and white as they seem to crack a case. This is how I get things done. Any winning actress Kathy Bates is Madlock. All new Thursdays at nine Eastern on global. Stream on stack TV.