Kenney says border restrictions creating 'crisis' of empty shelves in grocery stores

Premier Kenney tweeted out images of sparsely-stocked shelves Monday morning, tweeting "I’m getting pictures like this from grocery stores across Alberta this morning. This is turning into a crisis. It requires immediate action by the Canadian & US governments."

CALGARY -

Premier Kenney says COVID-19 border restrictions are creating a crisis highlighted by empty shelves in Alberta grocery stores.

Kenney tweeted out images of sparsely-stocked shelves Monday morning, saying "I’m getting pictures like this from grocery stores across Alberta this morning. This is turning into a crisis. It requires immediate action by the Canadian & US governments."

Kenney said he discussed the issue with several U.S. governors Monday, but wouldn't reveal which stores or communities the photos of empty shelves were from.

A number of CTV viewers shared photos of a mixture of full and empty shelves in their communities while a check of local groceries revealed mostly full shelves.

"I don't want to downplay or diminish some of the challenges we're facing right now. But people should not be concerned that there's not going to be enough food to eat that they don't have to go back to the panic buying that doesn't help anyone and hurts everyone actually," Sands said.

Gary Sands, senior vice-president for The Canadian Federation of Independent Shoppers, said there was no reason to panic.

 "I don't want to downplay or diminish some of the challenges we're facing right now. But people should not be concerned that there's not going to be enough food to eat that they don't have to go back to the panic buying that doesn't help anyone and hurts everyone actually," Sands said.

"Omicron has ripped through the entire food supply chain," he added. "And that has resulted in labour shortages, whether it's a producer, distributor, wholesaler, packager, right through to the retail grocery store, where I'm hearing averages of 15 to 25 per cent for some of my members stores, so that that's a significant hit."

Sands said there was no doubt that vaccination requirements for truckers at the border have complicated things…in addition to road infrastructure damage in B.C. and the reality that there are always supply challenges in Canada in January because of winter weather.