There was an article the other week from Canada about their CPI (I can't find it right now). Their CPI calculation was using prices that were half those available in stores (butter was one product, there are large variations in prices for some primary products in Canada because of producer's co-operatives particularly in dairy), and used sizes for some products that haven't existed for decades.
CPI calculations are very tricky. Deflation in telecoms, for example, has been very understated because how do you compare a data plan with a voice plan (in the UK, they had to adjust two decades of CPI numbers because of this calculation error). Imo, we place far too much reliance on CPI which is, after all, only one measure of inflation. Everyone seems to believe that prices are rising faster than CPI, and they would probably be right (I am in the UK, food prices in Canada particularly are...out of this world...particularly for meat, which seems to cost at least 3x the price here).
First? I think this is an ad. Newspapers are paid for placement articles like this all of the time. Now, how much oversight is placed upon such ads-articles, depends upon the publication.
The Star is well respected, so I suspect there's some strong oversight on opt-ads by them. EG "Please write about us", more than "Here's an article we've written for you." However, I'd be surprised if some cash didn't change hands.
Second? This doesn't mean the premise is wrong. Part of the problem is how vast Canada is. Local production in Canada, crossing 4+ timezones and 10000km, is going to result in local shortages of products, and thus, local price spikes in produces.
For example, if you have a local butter shortage one year, shipping from 5k away will raise the price.
Again, my above comments aren't meant to debunk this article, just provide some additional data.
Oh, also.. pricing is indeed different in the UK and Canada. I visited... 5? years ago, during a particularly rain free, heat wave summer. Was nice, btw. :) But during my visit I did see those massive pricing differences in some things.
Of course, UK pricing for wood and fuel was outrageous for me (just things I noticed, and these are things plentiful in Canada).
But you're right about market controls in Canada, which are designed to ensure supply, and keep farmers in a profitable state. The US, for example, does this in a different manner, for example, they don't limit production, they buy excess.
On the dairy side for example, they buy excess milk and make "government cheese", which can be stored longer than milk (years), and is often given to the poor.
CPI calculations are very tricky. Deflation in telecoms, for example, has been very understated because how do you compare a data plan with a voice plan (in the UK, they had to adjust two decades of CPI numbers because of this calculation error). Imo, we place far too much reliance on CPI which is, after all, only one measure of inflation. Everyone seems to believe that prices are rising faster than CPI, and they would probably be right (I am in the UK, food prices in Canada particularly are...out of this world...particularly for meat, which seems to cost at least 3x the price here).