Nutrition North program to make point-of-sale system mandatory

A recent change to the Nutrition North food subsidy program will make it easier to show customers how much money they're saving through the program.

On Monday, the federal government announced that retailers under the program have until April of 2016 to put a "point-of-sale" system in place, which will spell out, on their receipts,how much customers are saving because of the subsidy.

The federal government says the change willmake the program more transparent and reassure the public that they are indeed saving money through the much-maligned subsidy program. However, many Northern residents remain skeptical.

"Part of the problem is that even if you do show the savings on the receipt it's rather a nebulous thing," said Clare Kines, who lives in Arctic Bay, Nunavut.

"It's probably going to cost the Northern (stores)more money to put the system in place," saidNikkiEegeesiak, from Iqaluit."I just hope they don't charge more, charge us more for that system."

'Minimal impact'

However, the North West company, the largest retailerin many communities across Northern Canada, says that won't happen.

Derek Reimer, the North West Company's director of business development, saidthat his company plans to "reflect the subsidy on all our receipts in advance of the mandatory date.

"We want our customers to be confident that they have received the full subsidy on all purchases," said Reimer."The impact of this software upgrade in the big scheme of things is minimal when you compare it to the overall benefits of the program."

Reimermaintainsthat the price for basic food items has dropped since the Nutrition North program began, and that the new point-of-sale system will allow customers to see that for themselves.

Retailers have until April of 2016 to comply with the new regulations.