China News Service, August 11th. According to the Canadian "Ming Pao" report, many consumers in Toronto, Canada have found that the prices of vegetables and fruits in supermarkets are higher than in previous years, and the expenditure on buying fruits and vegetables has increased a lot. Local Chinese supermarket operators also feel the same. According to their analysis, the main reason is the lack of manpower on the farms in Ontario, the difficulty in harvesting, and many vegetables rotted in the ground, increasing the price of vegetables by about 50%.

　　Mr. Shi, who runs a supermarket in Chinatown, Central District, Toronto, said that due to the epidemic, temporary workers from Mexico to farms in Ontario have decreased this year. Due to lack of manpower, the vegetables that should be harvested could not be carried out. As a result, some vegetables were rotten in the ground.

　　Another supermarket owner, Mr. Yuan, said that there is another reason for the lack of labor on vegetable farms this year. That was the summer of previous years, when many parents of overseas students looked after their children. Many of them also go to the farm to do cash jobs. This year, all the overseas students will return home. Of course, their parents will not come, and the "new force" in this aspect of the farm is gone.

　　The lack of manpower has greatly affected farm operations, increased losses, and higher prices. At the same time, even Nan'an also needs to import some vegetables from Mexico. The prices of dishes from Mexico in 2020 are also higher than usual. They understand that there is also a shortage of manpower and transportation costs have also increased.

　　Mr. Shi said that the price of farm vegetables has risen by 50% this year. Vegetable imports from Mexico rose even more.

　　He noticed that, for example, rapeseed, in the summer of 2019, it costs 1 Canadian dollars or 1.2 Canadian dollars a pound, but now they are sold for 2 Canadian dollars a pound more.

　　He said that his supermarket was severely hit by the epidemic. Usually their main source of customers is office building employees, tourists and international students. Under the epidemic, these three groups of people have basically disappeared, and they are completely dependent on local residents for consumption. Therefore, supermarket passenger flow has dropped drastically, with a decline between 30% and 50%.

　　This situation has not improved so far.

　　Both supermarket operators said that the weather this summer was not good. It was cold and hot at the same time, which brought pests to vegetables and pushed up prices.

　　Canadian vegetable prices have been facing the challenge of climate change for a long time.

　　A report from Guelph University at the end of 2019 predicted that Canadian families would need to increase food expenditure by nearly 500 Canadian dollars in 2020. Since the epidemic, the federal government has launched an emergency funding of $2,000 per month.

　　Some reports say that some employees feel that they can still receive $2,000 if they do not work at home, rather than rework. So when their original workplace such as a restaurant recruited them to go back, they were rejected.

　　In this regard, Mr. Shi said that when the epidemic broke out, no one in his supermarket resigned because of fear. Although he has difficulties in business and has been losing money, he does not want to fire anyone. After all, he has been working for many years, so there is no problem of refusing to come back because of receiving emergency subsidies.

　　Mr. Yuan said that some people in his supermarket did not want to come back. They feel that they can receive government money and do not need to work. I can't force them to come back either. Therefore, his supermarket has the problem of inviting people.