MPs should push grocer CEOs to disclose margins on food, experts say
CTV
As members of Parliament gear up to grill the CEOs of Canada's largest grocery store chains, experts say elected officials should push for more transparency on why grocers are making so much money.
As members of Parliament gear up to grill the CEOs of Canada's largest grocery store chains, experts say elected officials should push for more transparency on why grocers are making so much money.
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.
Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, said the upcoming meeting "is very much about political theatre."
Other executives from the companies have already testified in front of MPs, but New Democrats in particular signalled their dissatisfaction with the absence of the CEOs themselves.
"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 Quebecois MPs on the committee.
With the grocers making record profits amid high inflation, Charlebois said MPs have an opportunity to push for more financial information that could shed light on what's been driving profits.
