TORONTO – It’s a joke. On the one hand, the federal government has been pushing for months to convince large food distribution companies to adopt a “code of conduct” to regulate prices, threatening them with “penalizing measures”. On the other hand, the same food companies, in turn, declare: “I would gladly adopt the code of conduct, but all the other companies must also adopt it, otherwise nothing will be done”. And, of course, nothing changes. And prices continue to rise. 

This time it was the giant Costco who played the “good guy”: a company manager declared that the company would be willing to support the “code of conduct”, but does not yet have sufficient details to make a decision and above all he believes “it is necessary for everyone to participate and for all of us to see it as beneficial to consumers” said Pierre Riel, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Costco Wholesale International and Canada. Which will probably never happen, given that the “code of conduct”, in development since 2021, is at a dead end as both Loblaw and Walmart have so far refused to sign it in its current state.

According to Global News, Pierre Riel, however, noted that his company was not invited to participate directly in discussions on the “code” but was involved through the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), a non-profit association representing retailers , including Canadian grocery stores.

“This code of conduct is not a problem for us” Riel told MPs at a meeting of the standing committee on agriculture and agri-food on Tuesday. “We look forward to reviewing the details of how the code will work on a day-to-day basis, who will participate, how disputes will be resolved and, ultimately, how the ‘code’ will impact food prices” Riel said, but he also added that Costco does not currently have enough information to say whether or not it will accept the “code” and that it is waiting for any updates from the RCC. “It would be premature to say today that we will participate when we have not yet worked out all the details,” Riel said, stressing that the “code” should apply to the entire industry. That is: everyone should accept it.

Sylvain Charlebois, food researcher and director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, well known on the web as The Food Professor, is on a similar position. “The ‘code’ will not work without the mandatory participation of all industry players” Charlebois said. “I can’t see this ‘code’ working without Loblaw and Walmart” added The Food Professor, addressing lawmakers.

In December 2023, Loblaw President Galen G. Weston and Walmart Canada CEO Gonzalo Gebara said they were unwilling to sign the “code” in its current form, saying it would raise prices instead of reduce them. Weston, in particular, had said that according to Loblaw, enforcement of the “code” would add $1 billion in costs to the supply chain, which would then be passed on to consumers. Gebara in turn stated that the additional bureaucracy required to enforce the “code” will ultimately increase costs which will then be passed on to consumers.

Meanwhile, according to Statistics Canada data released in January, food prices increased 4.7% year-over-year in December, the same pace recorded in the previous month. And the “theatre” continues…

Photo by Tara Clark on Unsplash