NDP responds to Competition Bureau report urging government action to help with cost of groceries

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh made the following statement regarding a report from the Competition Bureau released today:

“People across the country are struggling every single day to buy food for their families. While they make difficult decisions at the grocery checkout, they see the giant profits that grocery retailers are bringing in.

In 2022 alone, Loblaw, Sobeys and Metro collectively brought in more than $100 billion in sales and more than $3.6 billion in profits. These are the same companies who have been found to have illegally fixed the price of bread so that Canadians have to pay more for basic necessities.

This is wrong and Canadians from coats-to-coast-to-coast know it.

While major grocery retailers continue to bring in record-profits, the Liberals are standing by and failing to stand up for hardworking people.

For months, we have been urging the Liberals and Conservatives to lower the prices of food for working people by ending the free ride for ultra-wealthy CEOs. Unfortunately, both Pierre Poilievre and Justin Trudeau have refused to put in place an excessive profit tax to force these CEOs to pay what they owe.

New Democrats know that the government must do more to protect Canadians trying to stretch their family’s budget when they’re buying food.

We support the Competition Bureau’s call to improve competition in the grocery landscape by welcoming new entrants – both independent and international – into the market. A small group of mega-corporations shouldn’t have a strangle-hold on the market. Competition and tougher competition laws will help make groceries more affordable for millions of Canadians.

New Democrats will also continue pushing to increase the penalties for price fixing and to implement an excess profits tax to help lower prices and tackle the greedflation driving up costs for you and your family.”