Darrell Jones hiked grocery costs and cut pay for workers to increase corporate profits, says Dhir
SURREY — B.C. Conservative leadership candidate Darrell Jones has spent the last several years making life more expensive for people and workers while increasing corporate profits.
As President of Save-On-Foods, Jones helped hike food prices by 10.4% year-over-year as grocery chain profits hit record highs and the Pattison family’s net worth grew by more than 14%.
After initial price shocks from the pandemic legitimately increased costs in certain sectors, companies then implemented price increases throughout supply chains that exceeded their actual cost increases.
“Corporations didn’t just match their higher input costs – they added extra percentage points to expand their profit margins while Canadian households struggled financially” said one grocery price analyst.
During the pandemic, Save-On was the first grocery store chain to cut hazard pay for essential front line workers, cutting their wages by $2 dollars an hour even as competitors continued to pay.
Under David Eby, working British Columbians pay the lowest income tax of any province. The B.C. NDP eliminated MSP Premiums, boosted the B.C. Family Benefit to an average $2,254 a year permanently, and has frozen car insurance rates for seven straight years.
Sunita Dhir, B.C. NDP MLA for Vancouver-Langara:
“Darrell Jones has a disappointing record of making life harder and more expensive for people in order to pad corporate profits. He hiked grocery prices beyond inflation and cut pay for frontline workers during the pandemic, even as competitors continued to support their staff. Working British Columbians can’t trust him not to make life harder and more expensive for people.”