The Great Canadian Rip-Off

IN MY YOUNGER, wilder, punk-rock days, there was a ritual I would partake in every time I had something to celebrate—and, admittedly, many times even when I did not.

The ritual would begin with one very large, very cold beer, and then several more after that.

Before long I would be quite drunk, revelling in my recent accomplishments until

BY BRADEN DUPUIS

I could no longer remember what they were, or why I deserved to celebrate.

Rinse (thoroughly) and repeat.

Now 35 years old and nearly two years sober, I’ve had to develop new indulgences to mark those days of personal victory—namely, one specific, decadent cake from a Whistler Village eatery.

Let me tell you—this cake does not mess around, and the minute I had my first bite I was transported to a previously unknown world of sweet delicacy. I was hooked.

That was years ago now, but I still have flashbacks about that first bite of cake— enough so that it has become a semi-regular fixture in my life, at least when I need a reward or just a pick-me-up.

So imagine my furious, fat-faced surprise when I went to buy my favourite cake recently only to find it was noticeably smaller than in months and years past—and selling for the same price.

This is the part where some may call on me to name and shame the business, but that was never the intent of this column—mostly because I can’t be certain everyone isn’t doing the exact same thing.

But once I noticed my stunted little cake, I started seeing the signs of shrinkflation everywhere.

A chicken switcheroo at a major fastfood chain, swapping something that at least resembled chicken for some sort of chicken goop imitation (and somehow having the nerve to charge more than the previous iteration); a slight, but measurable, drop in the total weight of your bag of chips; a sly redesign of a bottle, supposedly to refresh the brand aesthetic but with a hidden motive of shrinking your serving size.

It’s not just anecdotal. A CBC Marketplace investigation published in November identified several items that were downsized recently, including a brand of pumpkin pie filler that old Betty Henry in London, Ont., has been using for 50 years to make her Thanksgiving pies.

Henry told CBC she won’t be using the filler again after discovering the manufacturer started using water to pad out the ingredients.

“I just found it a sneaky way to cut down on costs,” she said. “I don’t like paying for water. You can get it out of the tap, you don’t need to buy it.”

So true, Betty. Damn the man.

Our local businesses aren’t innocent, either. A Whistler sandwich shop I’ve been buying lunch from for close to a decade recently swapped out its baguettes for a much smaller, presumably cheaper baguette. The result is a noticeably smaller sandwich, but did the price go down?

No—just my incentive to buy it.

Canada’s Competition Bureau is currently conducting a market study into competitiveness in the grocery sector, which hopefully indicates a step in the right direction—time will tell.

But once you start to really see the shrinkflation, there’s no way you can ignore all the extra fees that are being levied at you in every transaction.

Used a delivery app lately? My most recent order includes a semi-reasonable subtotal, then a delivery fee, a service fee, an estimated tax, and the driver tip, leaving me with a total nearly double what I started with.

Don’t even get me started on the Resort Municipality of Whistler and its seemingly bottomless well of both new and increased fees.

Like the good, polite Canadian I am, I have always erred on the side of empathy and understanding. Businesses are dealing with very real cost pressures themselves, with profit margins shrinking all the time. But for us consumers, it’s getting to be a bit much, eh? It’s important to support local businesses, but nobody appreciates feeling like they’re being taken advantage of, and with the price of everything on a seemingly endless upward from Dalhousie University, the University of Guelph, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of British Columbia—the expected food price increase for 2022 of five to seven per cent was actually exceeded as of September, at 10.3 per cent.

For 2023, the report is again predicting an increase in food prices of five to seven per cent, due to factors like “adverse climate events, rising geopolitical tensions, high oil prices, and a falling Canadian dollar.”

The report notes that more Canadian consumers are trying to save money by reading weekly flyers, using coupons, taking advantage of volume discounting, and using food rescuing apps.

And in Whistler, they are increasingly turning to the food bank, which is now serving between 800 and 1,000 people every month— up from about 200 per month, pre-COVID.

“We are seeing a constant increase in need that doesn’t seem to go down,” Gizem Kaya, food security and community development trajectory, there’s only so much spending money to go around.

It’s also disheartening, because for the most part, we just have to suck it up. Most people are too busy/stressed/tired to push back/speak out/notice how bad they’re being hosed at the end of the day.

So where is the bottom? How far can the quality of goods and services be stretched before they’re just not worth purchasing at all?

According to Canada’s Food Price Report 2023—compiled annually by researchers manager for the Whistler Community Services Society, told Pique last fall. “We kept thinking maybe things will be better for people, but really the housing situation is not helping.”

So don’t expect demand at the food bank to drop in 2023. Food prices will keep rising, the portions will likely keep shrinking, and the Great Canadian Rip-Off will continue unabated until something breaks for good.

In the meantime, I’ll have to find a new, more frugal way to celebrate life’s little victories. I’ve been hearing good things about dirt. ■

Whistler Blackcomb: Too busy, not enough parking

Whistler Blackcomb is busier and more crowded than ever. It’s often impossible to find parking, and morning lift queues are massive every time it snows. I thought the new lifts were supposed to reduce lift queues—but the queues are bigger than ever! Are we experiencing “induced traffic” similar to what happens when lanes are added to highways, and the traffic jams just get larger?

Last June, Park City Mountain, a Vail Resorts property, tweeted “chairlift tourism, or the idea that modernizing lifts will draw more crowds, does not exist,” after the Park City Planning Commission revoked building permits for two new chairlifts after an appeal raised by residents who were concerned that the new lifts would exceed Park City’s “comfortable carrying capacity” and cause even bigger parking and crowding headaches. Those two lifts are now headed to Whistler to replace the Fitzsimmons and Jersey Cream chairs.

Vail has upgraded six lifts on our mountains so far, soon to be eight, but they haven’t added any new ski runs, parking lots, restaurants or bathrooms. Everything and everywhere is just more crowded. I’ve never skied down Upper Franz’s and thought, “I wish this run was 30-per-cent busier,” but that’s what happened with the new Big Red upgrade.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler’s

(RMOW) parking bylaw states that “0.5 spaces per hourly rated capacity of all base lifts” of parking is required for ski lifts, and that the parking must “be located no further than 500 metres from the lift for which it is required.” How were the Blackcomb and Creekside gondolas upgraded without adding more parking stalls? By my math, we’re talking at least 1,000 parking stalls, and that’s before the new eight-seater Fitzsimmons Chair is built this summer! And as a reader pointed out in last week’s Pique, we can no longer park along the roadways, and a larger portion of Lots 5 and 6 have been set aside for staff parking, so there are even fewer parking spots for skiers now than in the recent past.

I’m also surprised that only two of the eight new lifts are included in the approved Whistler Blackcomb masterplan on the BC Government website—the upgraded Emerald and Catskinner lifts. The other six new lifts aren’t even on the plans—so how can the province or the RMOW determine if our mountains’ “comfortable carrying capacity” has been exceeded with all of these lift upgrades? I went internet sleuthing to learn how much more lift capacity Vail Resorts has added to the mountains, and it’s not easy to figure out—their press releases are usually only relative, such as “Creekside Gondola Capacity increased by 35%.”

Maybe Vail Resorts is right and the new lifts aren’t the reason why the mountains are so much busier—maybe cheap season passes, fat powder skis, and remote working are more to blame. Doesn’t really matter why, and just complaining about how busy it is now doesn’t do any good either—the hordes are here. It’s already past the time to make improvements to better manage the crowds, and adding parking spots would be a good place to start. Is it too much to ask that the RMOW enforces its own parking bylaw, and requires Vail Resorts to add parking in proportion to its increased base lift capacities?

While they’re at it, they could enact policies to encourage carpooling—maybe charge more for parking a single-occupancy vehicle. Build covered e-bike sheds and provide more seasonal lockers so locals can leave their cars at home. If building a parking lot within 500 metres of a lift isn’t possible, build intercept parking lots north and south of town with a shuttle bus system and make them the cheapest option.

And let’s see a balance of on-mountain development, including new lifts and ski runs to spread people out more, automated avalanche control so the alpine can be reliably opened earlier, and more on-mountain restaurants. Build a mountain hut out at Symphony, the Showcase Gondola and the chairlift between Emerald and Harmony, because just swapping out lifts for higher capacity ones hasn’t improved the guest experience as intended.

Graham Scott // Whistler

[Editor’s note: Pique asked the RMOW for clarity on current parking requirements, and was still awaiting a response at press time. Also, Whistler Blackcomb’s Master Plan documents include a caveat around future lift upgrades, noting “the phasing of new lifts or lift upgrades

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New year, renewed focus for the Garibaldi Volunteer Fire Department

The Garibaldi Volunteer Fire Department (GVFD) provides wildland, structural, and vehicle fire response and medical first aid services along a segment of the Sea to Sky between Squamish and Whistler.

In recent years, with the escalating risk of wildfires and the ever-growing number of visitors to the area, the department has focused on shoring up its volunteer base, augmenting skill levels, and enhancing the tools in our toolkit.

In addition to the many community members who support our local fundraising efforts, the GVFD gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) and the many community partners who contribute to the success of the organization, ensuring we can deliver these vital services to the communities we serve.

We would like to recognize the following supporters for their assistance last year with capital expenses that will help us to better protect people, infrastructure, and wildlife in the Sea to Sky:

The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation and Woodfibre LNG for their contributions ($35,000 and $20,000, respectively) toward the purchase of a new rapid-response wildland vehicle, which enhances our ability to respond quickly and effectively to wildfires while protecting the safety of our volunteers;

The Whistler Health Care Foundation for its $10,000 contribution toward upgraded medical equipment, which allows us to provide better patient care;

The Rotary Club of Squamish for its $6,000 donation for a drone system with thermal imaging cameras that allows us to quickly locate and assess wildfires (that may otherwise be inaccessible or hard to access on backcountry roads);

The Rotary Club of Whistler for $1,000 for a portable wildfire water tank that enables our crews to shuttle water back and forth to a wildfire where water isn’t readily available.

On behalf of the GVFD, a sincere thank you to all of our supporters, and we wish everyone a happy, healthy, and safe new year.

Chief Dan Ross // GVFD

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