Grocery store prices
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- Published on Sunday, 29 November -0001 16:00
- Written by editor
PAOV — Loblaw recently announced their revenue increased 6% in the first quarter of the year, totalling nearly $13 billion. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Canadians are struggling to put food on the table. Petition starter Haruun is urging the government to introduce legislation that would stop the further monopolization of essential goods, like groceries. If you agree, sign the petition now.
Investigate Loblaw Co for pandemic profiteering and greedflation.
52,569 have signed Haruun Ali’s petition. Let’s get to 75,000!
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Let’s be frank, we have all seen the rising cost of groceries at Canadian grocery stores and especially at Galen Weston Jr owned stores. Over the years, Loblaw Companies has costed Canadians billions as a result of their pandemic profiteering and greedflation. Some examples of these are below.
- Galen Weston Jr and Loblaw Co own a grocery store within 10km of 90% of Canadians. There is little ability for us to boycott them considering they own a significant portion of grocery stores in Canada under several brands.
- In 2017, Loblaw Co admitted to fixing the price of bread for over a decade. The bread price fixing scheme cost Canadians an estimated $5 billion over 16 years. They only offered Canadians a $25 gift card for this and the competition bureau has offered them immunity in exchange for their cooperation with the investigation.
- According to Statistics Canada data, it shows that food retailers have earned about an extra $5 billion per year in net income since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic which is more than twice what they earned in 2019. This is another example of the pandemic profiteering they engaged in while robbing workers of a $2 an hour bonus during the pandemic.
- In the 3rd quarter of 2022, Loblaw Co reported it’s profits had surged 30% and specifically cited high margin items like beauty products and cold medication. Prices are rising faster than inflation is rising which is driving increased corporate profits.
All of this is happening while Galen Weston Jr is generating wealth at the expense of Canadians. In 2021, Galen was paid a salary of $730,456, a $2,170,000 bonus and stocks valued at $2,470,000 million for a total compensation package of $5,370,456. This means that Galen Weston Jr made nearly 100x what the average Canadian made and nearly 184x the average store clerk.
Last week, Loblaw PR folks took to Twitter to attempt to gaslight Canadians who point the finger at Galen Weston Jr’s excessive corporate profits. To be blunt, Loblaw Co has gotten away with robbing Canadians due to bad legislation and continues to gaslight us into thinking that they aren’t robbing us. Parliament has failed to take legislative steps to prevent the exploitation of folks at the checkout line. A basket of groceries shouldn’t cost more than $100 and 5 chicken breasts certainly shouldn’t cost $37.
My name is Haruun Ali and I am a community organizer and president of Edmonton’s future. I have seen first hand in my own community the drastic effects that these massive costs have had. Over the past few weeks, myself and several activists have been calling out Loblaw owned stores for these ridiculous prices. I’m now pushing legislative changes to the Competiton Act and for legislation to prevent the further monopolization of Canadian grocery stores. I launched a parliamentary petition (e-4244) calling upon parliament to take action on Loblaw Co and Galen Weston Jr’s pandemic profiteering and greed flation. You can sign this petition here which has already reached the 500 signatures necessary for certification. Special thanks to our awesome Alberta MP Blake Desjarlais for sponsoring the petition
I’m asking for you to join me in calling upon parliament to take legislative action to not just investigate Loblaw Co but to introduce legislation that will prevent the further monopolization of essential goods like groceries, telecommunications and more. These high grocery store prices are driving more Canadians to be forced to use the food bank. Food is an essential that every Canadian should be able to access in a dignified manner. For updates on the work myself and activists are doing on these legislative changes, feel free to follow me at @HaruunYEG on Twitter.
Take a stand with me and demand parliament take action.
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