The big bosses of Loblaws, Metro, Costco, Walmart Canada and Empire Company Limited, the parent company of Sobeys and IGA, came up close to Parliament for this hour-long meeting.
Canadians are facing rising costs of living, particularly food prices.
This morning I will meet with executives from the five largest grocery chains to discuss concrete solutions to stabilize their prices.
— François-Philippe Champagne (FPC) 🇨🇦 (@FP_Champagne) September 18, 2023
Most of them did not want to speak to journalists before the meeting.
Still, Metro President and CEO Éric La Flèche said he hoped for “a productive meeting.”
Empire CEO Michael Medline made a similar comment.
At the start of the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland attended.
“We understand that there are two main issues facing Canadians today: the prices of everything and interest rates. (…) Our government will do everything in its power to help prices stabilize,” she said simply before heading to the meeting.
Mr Champagne was due to answer questions from journalists in the afternoon.
Last Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced at the end of his caucus meeting that Ottawa would convene the leaders of major grocery chains to explain how they plan to stabilize food prices.
The federal government is asking them to submit a plan by Thanksgiving and is threatening to intervene if their plan is deemed inadequate.
“We are not ruling out anything, including tax measures,” Trudeau said Thursday.
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