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Greed based Inflation in the Grocery aisle

The last 5 years have been particularly difficult for most Canadians.

The big three Canadian grocery giants on the other hand - they’ve had their best years ever.

The pandemic and the current inflationary crisis have allowed big corporations to leverage their control over the market like never before.

As Jim Stanford at the Centre for Future Work has demonstrated, while grocery giants saw a brief rise in actual sales volume during the pandemic, they almost immediately returned back to normal levels.

Despite this, the net profit earned by these grocery giants only continued to go up at a rapid, unprecedented rate.  

For years, the NDP has called out grocery store CEOs who earn millions in bonuses, and we’ve been calling for a windfall profits tax to disincentivize price gouging. We have always believed in stronger competition and anti-trust laws; policies which prevent corporations from becoming so large they can run our lives. 

Last Fall, I was successful in getting two motions passed in Parliament to study the impact of “greedflation” on the price we pay at grocery stores to feed our families: one at the Agriculture Committee, and one in the House of Commons.

In response to public and political pressure, Loblaws announced a price freeze on its “No Name” brand of products. The price freeze showed that grocery giants can control how much we pay. Their profits have skyrocketed over the last several years. They’ve been using inflation as an excuse to hike prices higher than they need to. And Canadian families are paying the price. That’s greedflation.

With the price freeze ended, they’re about to do it again. Families are going to have to take more out of their grocery carts or rack up a bigger bill at the till — and the Liberals are letting it happen. Justin Trudeau keeps letting the cost of living get worse for you, so profits can get bigger for CEOs. Pierre Poilievre loves to denounce “gatekeepers and elites” in the government, but he doesn’t care about the gatekeepers in corporate boardrooms who want you to pay through the nose for getting up every day.

Government has the power to hold to account CEOs of big grocery chains, leading to lower prices for you. The Liberals and Conservatives want better profits for CEOs.  I want better quality of life for everyday people, and I will continue fighting in Parliament to help protect you from record breaking corporate greed.

NDP agriculture critic wears his ‘corporate greed police’ badge proudly | iPolitics

 

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