People shop in a grocery store in Montreal, Wednesday, November 16, 2022. The CEOs of Canada's largest grocery store chains have been summoned to a House of Commons committee to answer for rising grocery prices. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
OTTAWA – The heads of Canada’s largest grocery store chains have been summoned to a House of Commons committee to answer for rising grocery prices.
On Monday, a committee studying food price inflation called on the CEOs and presidents of Loblaw, Metro and Empire to attend an upcoming meeting.
NDP member of Parliament Alistair MacGregor made the request, gaining unanimous support from Liberal, Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs.
The committee also agreed to extend the length of its food price inflation study by adding more meetings.
Statistics Canada says prices for food purchased from stores rose nearly 10 per cent in 2022, the fastest pace since 1981, with higher prices in every food category except for canned salmon.
MacGregor says he’s looking forward to asking the CEOs direct questions about why grocery bills are going up.
“Canadians are cutting back on their usual grocery lists and stretching their paycheques even further to get less for their families,” said MacGregor, who is the NDP’s food price inflation critic.
“But all the while, these grocery CEOs are making more money than they ever have before. It just doesn’t add up.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 14, 2023.
