NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Kelvin Kotchilea, the party's candidate in the NWT for the next federal election, went grocery shopping on Tuesday.

Over at RochdiSA国际影视传媒檚 Your Independent Grocer, Singh picked out some olive oil, peaches, and apples. His total? $40 and he said that's way too high.

Kotchilea said his family of four spent around $200 a week on groceries a year and a half ago. That number has since spiked to $350 a week, he said, and for someone who says he priorities health, it doesn't make things easier.

"itSA国际影视传媒檚 either eat your food as medicine, or your medicine as food,SA国际影视传媒� he said.

The NWT is no stranger to a high cost of living. Prices in Yellowknife rose an average of 3.7 per cent from August 2022 to August 2023, according to the NWT Bureau of Statistics.

"It's clear that the Liberals and Justin Trudeau have let down people in the North," said Singh. "If you ask anyone in the North, their cost of groceries are up, cost of rent is up, cost of housing is higher than ever before. What was the point of having a Liberal here? They've not made life more affordable." 

Singh was referring to current NWT MP Michael McLeod.

Singh also used the opportunity to advocate for an NDP government and electing Kotchilea when the next federal election happens. The latest that can take place is October 2025.

One way Singh said they would help is by prioritizing the proposed Mackenzie Valley Highway project

"We believe that is a job creator, which should be tied to community benefit agreements," he said. "If we build the project in the North, we should get jobs for Northerners, people should get hired in the North first. If other workers are required, we can bring in more workers. But these are opportunities to build up the community and this is the role of a federal government: invest in infrastructure."

Loblaw Companies Ltd., Canada's largest grocery chain, including both Your Independent Grocer locations in the city, saw revenues reach $586 million in the first quarter of 2024, according to the company's own numbers. The company also announced late last month that it would paying $252.5 million as part of a class-action lawsuit settlement over price-fixing involving bread. George Weston Ltd., has also agreed to pay $247.5 million as part of the same settlement.

"I want to be really clear: consumers that get ripped off by large corporations should not have to resort to initiating a class-action lawsuit as a way to get justice," said Singh about the settlement. "The government should be standing up for them and stopping these corporations from ripping them off."

Singh said there needs to be harsher penalties for corporations that act like this.

"One penalty that I suggested, and a law that I wrote was, if a corporation rips off Canadians, and is found that they ripped (people) off to the tune of $5 billion, then what we should do is penalize them $15 billion - triple the benefit," he said."

Singh and Kotchilea were set to visit the Yellowknife Farmers Market on Tuesday evening for a meet-and-greet with the public.