Federal Committee Investigating Food Inflation to Summon CEOs From 3 Biggest Grocery Chains to Testify

A woman shops for produce in a grocery store in Toronto in a file photo. Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press

The heads of Canada’s three grocery oligarchs will be summoned to appear before a House of Commons committee investigating food price inflation.

MacGregor posted Feb. 13 on Twitter that the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food “unanimously passed my motion to summon the Presidents and CEOs of the three biggest grocery chains in Canada: Empire, Loblaws, and Metro to answer for their profit-driven inflation of food prices.”

Canada’s main giant grocery retailers include Empire (which owns Sobeys, Safeway, and FreshCo), Loblaw (which includes Superstore, Extra Foods, No Frills, Dominion, and others), and Metro (which has stores in Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick).

The committee initially planned six meetings and has since decided to add more meetings and witnesses, including the CEOs of Canada’s three largest grocery chains. A date has not been scheduled for the CEOs’ testimony.

The cost of groceries skyrocketed to close to 10 percent in 2022, representing the highest increase seen since 1981, with higher food prices for almost every item in the grocery store, according to Statistics Canada.

Last year, the federal government asked the Competition Bureau to look into food prices. A report on their findings is expected later in 2023.

In October 2022, an NDP motion requested the federal government take steps to investigate “greedflation,” accusing grocery store giants of “making massive profits in the last year,” while prices continually rise for consumers.

Profit

In a Feb. 9 brief presented to the committee by economist Jim Stanford, he said that of all the aspects of inflation in Canada, the one that “generates the most anger among Canadians is the rise in food prices.”

According to Stanford, “food retail profits have doubled compared to pre-pandemic norms.” He cited Statistics Canada data suggesting food grocers in 2022 earned twice what they earned in 2019, roughly $5 billion per year in net income.

Stanford, who heads a think tank called the Centre for Future Work, suggests corporate greed, both from food retailers and food processors, is to blame for skyrocketing grocery bills, not supply chain issues or inflation.

He said, “These companies have seized the opportunity provided by the volatile conjuncture of disrupted supply chains (from the pandemic, climate disasters, and the war in Ukraine) and consumer desperation, to increase prices well beyond what would be required to cover their own input costs.”

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University, said, “It’s important for CEOs to come in and give their story and be transparent.”

Charlebois told The Epoch Times that there is “no clarity in terms of how much money is generated off of food sales.” While making a profit from selling cosmetics, clothing, and prescription drugs might be acceptable, “the morality of selling food is a bit different than selling lipstick,” said the professor.

Financial officers for the three giant grocers have attended past committee meetings to discuss the rising prices and food inflation. However, the companies’ CEOs have not appeared before a House of Commons committee since July 10, 2020, when they faced questions on cancelling a $2-per-hour “hero pay” increase provided to front-line essential workers during COVID.

Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro were contacted for comment but did not respond by press time.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.