New Democrats are tackling corporate greed and getting results for Canadian families

OTTAWA – Today, New Democrats forced a vote on their proposal to stand up for Canadians paying higher grocery bills as corporate greed drives prices higher. For months, the NDP have called out the grocery store CEOs making millions of dollars in bonuses while Canadians make difficult choices about what groceries they can and can't afford. Today, after mounting pressure from the NDP, Loblaws showed it is possible to freeze prices -- they just need to be forced to do it.

“Hardworking Canadians aren’t seeing their wages increase while the cost of food soars. But the rich CEOs of big grocery stores made massive profits and got millions of dollars in bonuses while families are paying higher costs on their grocery bills,” said Leader of Canada’s NDP Jagmeet Singh. “Today’s announcement from Loblaws shows that the rich CEOs of big grocery stores are feeling the pressure to reduce food costs for Canadian families and are capable of doing it if the government makes them. The government has a lot of work to do to tackle the greedflation that is making the high cost of living even worse for people. While Justin Trudeau's Liberals and Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives stand with the big bosses and their profits, New Democrats stand with working families working hard to get ahead.”

The NDP’s proposal calls for a strategy to tackle corporate greed in the grocery sector, for accountability from rich CEOs and for tougher penalties for price-fixing and stronger competition laws to protect Canadians from price gouging. As Loblaws proved today, there are steps that wealthy CEOs and the government can take to ensure Canadians aren’t always the ones left paying the price when times are tough. New Democrats are again calling on the Liberal government to close the tax loopholes that allow CEOs and big corporations to avoid paying tens of billions of dollars in taxes.

“While people struggled to manage the rising cost of food, the CEO of Empire got an eight-million-dollar bonus and the CEO of Loblaws got a five-million-dollar bonus — Canadians are right to be angry and calling on their government to introduce solutions,” said Singh. “Today the Liberals and Conservatives have a chance to stand up for Canadians against the corporate greed that is driving up the costs for hardworking people. New Democrats know who we stand with, and it's you. We'll continue to push the government to act so Canadians aren’t paying the price while rich CEOs keep getting richer.”