Canada Bread has agreed to pay $50 million after admitting to colluding with competitors in Canada’s bakery industry to fix bread prices.
Canada Bread revealed in an Ontario court on June 21 that an executive at the company discussed the prices of bread products with senior executives at Weston Foods, at that time a subsidiary of George Weston Ltd., the parent company of grocery chain Loblaws.
In June 2007, Canada Bread and Weston Foods executives agreed to engage in two price increases, one in 2007 and one in 2011, according to the Competition Bureau. At the time of the price-fixing scandal, Canada Bread was under the ownership of Maple Leaf Foods. The senior leadership of Canada Bread that engaged in the price-fixing is no longer with the company.
The Competition Bureau launched an investigation into the price-fixing scandal in 2017 after receiving information from an anonymous source about the scandal.
The watchdog then executed search warrants against companies such as Loblaws, Metro Inc., Walmart Canada, Sobeys Inc., Giant Tiger Stores Ltd., and Canada Bread. Weston and Loblaws were granted immunity from prosecution for cooperating in the matter, including alerting the bureau about the scandal in 2015.
“It was only in 2017 that Grupo Bimbo learned about the matter. Since then, under Grupo Bimbo’s ownership, Canada Bread has provided full and consistent cooperation with the Competition Bureau,” they said.
Grupo Bimbo said they are considering “all legal options against those responsible” for the price-fixing scandal. “Canada Bread is committed to delivering high-quality products and maintaining the trust of our customers. We take great pride that our products are made by Canadians, for Canadians.”