Regulatory compliance costs discourage companies from expanding. Ottawa—Food processors want the next federal government to implement a grocery code of conduct, ease the regulatory burden they face and do more to attract investment in their sector. Food, Health and Consumer Products (FHCP) said “to compete globally, industry and government need to work collaboratively to foster innovation, attract investment and grow domestic manufacturing capacity through targeted support and improved competitiveness.” Currently almost half the companies in the sector are looking to invest elsewhere and only a quarter intend to expand production in Canada, it said. The companies face “unprecedented and monumental changes to how they make, package and sell products. To fuel economic recovery, there is an urgent need  for improved policy alignment across government. Economic and regulatory departments need to better coordinate design and implementation of policies and regulations.” Canada needs to implement a Grocery Supply Code of Practice to restore balance in the grocery retailer-supplier relationship, it said. In July, the federal and provincial agriculture ministers asked the agrifood sector to develop a code, which is being worked on. The grocery is dominated by five chains that control 80 per cent of the business, which FHCP said threatens processors' competitiveness and long-term growth. “These grocery giants have used this power imbalance to unilaterally impose fees and raise costs on suppliers, contributing to massive increases in the cost of doing business with no return on investment or growth for manufacturers and no value in reduced prices or innovation for consumers.” These unfair practices pose a serious threat to manufacturers as well as farmers and secondary suppliers to the food sector. A poll has found that 77 per cent of Canadians support government action to encourage food suppliers and grocers to adopt a Grocery Code, it said. Worker shortages is another major challenge for manufacturers with almost one in every ten food jobs unfilled. “Industry and government need to work together to expand the scope of programs to re-skill disrupted workers, retain and attract highly skilled global talent, provide predictable and timely access to workers outside of Canada to fill the current domestic labour gap, and make investments supporting the commercialization of labour-saving technologies.” Another headache is critical regulatory decisions being made “without sufficient consideration of business impacts, producing unnecessarily burdensome, disjointed and inconsistent policies across government; undermining regulatory objectives and the country's post-pandemic economic recovery.” FHCP said 95 per cent of companies say the retail environment negatively impacts price and choice for Canadians, 90 per cent of companies say the regulatory compliance burden impacts their competitiveness, 90 per cent of companies say government must do more to attract investment and encourage Canadian manufacturing, 85 per cent of manufacturers cannot fill vacancies and 78 per cent of companies find the cost of doing business is increasing faster in Canada than in other countries. Alex Binkley is a freelance journalist and writes for domestic and international publications about agriculture, food and transportation issues. He's also the author of two science fiction novels with more in the works.