(File photo/paNOW Staff)

By Derek Craddock

GROCERY CRUNCH

MPs meet with grocery store bosses, but will it change anything?

Mar 8, 2023 | 8:00 AM

MPs are expected to grill top executives from Canada’s grocery store industry as many Saskatchewan residents hold off purchasing costlier items.

The CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Co. Ltd. — which operates chains including Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo — are set to testify before the House of Commons agriculture committee on Wednesday as part of its study on food inflation.

According to the latest consumer price index report from Statistics Canada, grocery prices are up 11.4 per cent compared to a year ago. That continued rise in prices is changing how many people buy their groceries.

“You’re starting to notice people holding back on the more expensive items and the things that have inflated out of control,” Bill Mumm with Parkland Meats in Shellbrook said.

As an example, Mumm said his store offers a line of high-quality cheeses which unfortunately have upped in price significantly.

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“I think we’re going to have to quit selling it because no one wants to pay what we have to charge,” he said.

For cities and towns with multiple stores, shopping around is easy. However, many northern communities only have one store to go to.

For example, the Ne-He-Thow Store is the only grocery store on Montreal Lake Cree Nation. Inflation has forced the price of everything to rise, not just food at its store.

David MacDonald, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said the grocers may indeed be making their profits off of non-food products. But “we have no way to evaluate that because we can’t see any of that segmented information,” he said.

MacDonald said MPs could ask the grocery CEOs whether they will commit to providing full access to their financial records to the Competition Bureau as it embarks on its study.

“It’s definitely a snowball that’s building up,” Mumm said. “Everybody’s wages are stagnant and every single item that people are buying is inflated.”

So, what do local food retailers hope will happen with these upcoming testimonies?

“My pipe dream would be something that regulates the corporations, and the price increases they can have but it’s not going to happen,” said Mumm. “They’re going to spend tax dollars to tell us what we already know.”

“The rich get richer and the rest of us are left to fight over the scraps. It’s pretty discouraging especially young people trying to build a life.”

“Those at the heads of these companies, where the buck stops, should at least have to answer questions around why their profits are so high and why their prices are so high,” NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said last month.

The proposal to hear from the industry leaders came from the party’s agriculture critic, Alistair MacGregor, and it received unanimous support from Liberal, Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs on the committee.

A final report is expected in June, complete with recommendations for the federal government.

–With files from The Canadian Press