Ice storm aftermath: Could Quebecers be compensated for spoiled food?

Could Quebecers be compensated for spoiled food? A food analyst weighs in on whether people could be compensated for food that spoiled during the ongoing power outages.

The blackout caused by a deadly ice storm saw Quebecers tossing out perishable food and shelling out more cash to restock their fridges this week.

Lyse St-Germain, a resident of Montreal's Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough, spent part of Saturday replenishing the "hundreds of dollars" worth of groceries that went bad during the more than 48 hours she spent in the dark.

"I've lost everything," she said in an interview outside a Maxi grocery store near her home.

St-Germain said she lost power around 4 p.m. on Wednesday and only saw it restored on Saturday around noon.

"I had just bought a bunch of meat from Costco. My freezer was full. We had to eat at restaurants a couple of times these last few days, and it's very expensive with the current inflation," she said.

It's an unexpected cost that one food expert thinks warrants government compensation.

"In Nova Scotia last fall with the hurricane, the exact same thing happened," said Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.

"Many, many people in the Halifax area were out of power for 6-7 days, and the temperature was over 20 degrees, so there was no chance for anybody to save food," he said.

"But in return, the Nova Scotia government actually compensated businesses and households as well up to $100."

"It's not much, but at least it was a very strong signal telling people food is an important issue, food is an important asset in our society, so losing food is a tragedy," said Charlebois.

CTV News visited Supermarche PA on Parc Avenue on Saturday. The business had been without power for several days, leaving little meat, fish or fresh produce on the shelves.

Instead of throwing it all out, a store representative said it was all given away to customers.

The barren shelves spell a significant loss for companies—at least temporarily. If the business has insurance, it will have to make a claim and restock when power returns.

STORES OPEN SUNDAY

The Quebec government announced some grocery stores could remain open on Easter Sunday—a statutory holiday—to help residents running low on food after the blackout.

"Obviously, one of the issues (is) people are unable to keep food in their fridge," provincial Energy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon told a Saturday morning news conference.

The temporary measure applies to stores in six particularly hard-hit regions: Montreal, Monteregie, Laval, Outaouais, Laurentides and Lanaudiere.

Metro Inc., the parent company for grocery chains Metro, Super C and Adonis, issued a statement on Saturday saying some of its stores would be open to prospective Sunday shoppers.

"METRO Inc. is once again responding to the government's call to ensure the population's food security under exceptional circumstances," the statement said.

The company also thanked its employees who agreed to work on a voluntary basis on the federal holiday.

With files from The Canadian Press