Galen G. Weston CEO, chairman and president of Loblaw Companies Limited speaks during the company's annual general meeting in Toronto on May 3, 2018. The CEOs of Canada's largest grocery store chains will appear before a parliamentary committee today to answer questions about the rapid rise in grocery prices. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
OTTAWA – The leaders of Canada’s major grocery chains insist that food price inflation is not caused by profit-mongering and that their margins on food-related profits have remained low.
The CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Co. Ltd. – which operates chains including Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo – told members of Parliament it is false to suggest that grocers are responsible for high prices, and food inflation is a global problem.
Galen Weston, the chairman and president of Loblaw, says food prices have increased 25 times faster than profit margins on food products, and the company has made more money off financial services and apparel and pharmacy sales.
They heads of Empire and Metro both questioned why MPs have not invited large American retailers who do business in Canada to testify.
The NDP insisted on meeting to hold CEOs accountable for what they term “greedflation,” and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh advertised his showdown with Weston in a slate of social-media posts ahead of the meeting.
Grocery prices in January were up 11.4 per cent compared to a year ago, nearly double the overall rate of inflation of 5.9 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 8, 2023.
