TORONTO – The federal Minister of Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, is furious: because it is “untenable” that “smaller players” such as Walmart and Costco are delaying adhering to the food code of conduct promoted by the government and the industry, now that the giant Loblaw has agreed to do so. 

“They will sign,” Champagne told CTV‘s Question Period in an interview that aired Sunday. “I have every confidence that they will. After months of negotiations, Loblaw announced this week that it is ready to sign the food code of conduct. I don’t think it would be tenable for Costco or Walmart to ignore the will of the Canadian government and Canadian consumers”.

The code of conduct has been in the works for more than two years, but the federal government pledged to accelerate it last fall as a way to help stabilize food prices.

The code of conduct aims to define guidelines for fair relationships between food retailers and their suppliers, in order to set lower prices, but according to some chains (such as Walmart), the code will get the opposite effect, i.e. the increase in prices.

The minister, however, does not give up: “The pressure is strong for Walmart and Costco to do what Loblaw also did,” said Champagne, recalling the threat – made several times by the federal government – to approve legislation to make the code mandatory of conduct if grocery stores willfully fail to comply.

“For me, Loblaw was really the one we needed to convince to make sure everyone else got on board” Champagne reiterated. “I would say when you have Loblaw, which is 30% of the market in Canada, I will tell you, it seems untenable to me that Walmart and Costco are not adhering to the code of conduct, because that’s what the industry wants” he said. “Not just the government, not just the consumer: that’s what the industry itself wants”.

Walmart Canada spokeswoman Sarah Kennedy told to The Canadian Press this week that the company “has just received the latest draft of the revised Food Code of Conduct, which had not previously been shared with us. We will review it and determine next steps” she wrote in an statement. “As we have always said, we continue to focus on our customers’ best interest”.

Photo by Gabrielle Ribeiro on Unsplash