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The B.C. election campaign has a new villain, and NDP Leader David Eby has decided it is the man who owns the grocery store.

Over the weekend, Eby doubled down on his criticism of billionaire businessman and philanthropist Jim Pattison — just days after unveiling a government grocery price-cap scheme outside one of Pattison's Save-On-Foods stores in Kelowna.

Eby insists the proposed Price Guard is not aimed at any single company.

He argues that food distribution in the province is highly centralized, and that prices on the basics have climbed past inflation.

The answer, he says, is for the government to cap what retailers can mark up on staples like milk, eggs, butter, cheese, chicken, and turkey.

The Conservatives are not buying it.

Conservative candidate Peter Milobar reminded voters that Eby is asking for a fresh mandate after cancelling the $1,000 grocery rebate he promised in the last election.

Broken promise first, brand-new promise second — Kelowna voters have seen this movie before.

The conservative read on price caps is straightforward: they have never worked, anywhere, at any time.

Governments do not lower prices by decree; they distort them.

Cap the margins and retailers cut stock, shrink selection, or quietly raise prices elsewhere to compensate.

The staples on Eby's list — milk, eggs, dairy, poultry — already sit inside heavily regulated supply management systems.

Layering another government ceiling on top will not create abundance; it creates scarcity with paperwork.

What actually lowers grocery prices is competition: more retailers, more local producers, and lower costs of doing business.

Instead of vilifying a B.C. businessman who built a food empire from nothing and gives generously to charity, a serious affordability agenda would go after the taxes, regulations, and transport costs that make everything expensive long before it reaches the shelf.

Meanwhile, the Greens spent the weekend rolling out their own shopping list: bigger monthly rental assistance for low-income seniors, plus vacancy control in assisted-living facilities.

Rent controls in seniors' housing are price controls by another name — and they carry the same track record.

Three weeks remain before the October 24 vote.

Voters get to choose among three flavours of government intervention.

Or they can ask the question nobody in Victoria wants to hear: what if the intervention itself is the problem?