A Montreal grocery store in 2024. Canadian grocery prices rose 27 per cent between 2020 and 2025.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press

Zohran Mamdani, the leading candidate in New York’s mayoral race, has created buzz with his promise to introduce city-owned grocery stores. Here in Canada, Avi Lewis, one of the most prominent candidates in the federal NDP leadership race, is also pitching the idea of a “public option for groceries.”

The candidates are tapping into deep frustration about grocery prices, which rose 27 per cent in Canada between 2020 and 2025. The idea of publicly run stores has popular appeal, with one survey showing that two-thirds of New Yorkers support the idea. But for shoppers searching for lower food prices, the proposals are likely to leave them hungry.

The concept, as Mr. Mamdani lays it out, is to put a municipally owned grocery store into each of New York’s five boroughs. Without the need for profit, the stores can offer lower prices, he says. They wouldn’t need to pay rent or property tax, and centralized purchasing and distribution would help keep costs low.

Mr. Lewis’s version would have the........

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