As Liberals fail to bring down food prices, NDP forces grocery CEOs back to committee to answer to Canadians

NDP successfully calls grocery CEOs back to committee to testify on their plan to lower food prices after Liberals ask nicely approach fails

OTTAWA - Last week, NDP Food Price Inflation critic Alistair MacGregor passed a motion to force Canada’s big grocery CEOs to come back to testify regarding sky-high food prices. This comes after the Liberal Industry Minister’s abysmal failure to bring down food prices for Canadians. The Liberals’ out-of-touch approach to politely ask grocery CEOs to ‘stabilize’ prices that are already sky-high isn’t working — and Canadians need real action and accountability now.

“Everyone should be able to afford nutritious food to feed their families, but with food prices remaining high, people are being forced to cut back or turn to less healthy, cheaper alternatives - this past weekend, I was in Nunavut, where I heard from families who are trying to keep up, while their grocery costs go through the roof,” said Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh. “While big grocery CEOs continue to make billions of dollars, the Liberals' plan is to ask them politely to bring down grocery prices and tell Canadians to check the flyers. That’s how out-of-touch the Liberals are. It’s absurd. Canadians deserve better. Unlike the Liberals, New Democrats are holding these CEOs accountable and getting answers for Canadians.”

The NDP’s motion calls grocery CEOs, including former Loblaw CEO Galen Weston, to return to the Agriculture and Agri-Food committee to answer questions about why food prices continue to be sky-high. While Canadians are making impossible choices to get by, the Liberals have done very little to hold CEOs accountable for their greed that is driving food prices up.

New Democrats have been demanding action for months. In March 2022, when Jagmeet forced the Liberals and Conservatives to vote on making big grocery companies like Loblaws to pay what they owe, they teamed up to stop it. But the NDP continued to push the issue, and on October 5, 2022, New Democrats called for a study at the agriculture committee to investigate inflation on the food supply chain and the cost of groceries. Months later, on February 13, New Democrats had the study broadened to summon CEOs from Loblaws, Metro, and Empire Company and on March 8, 2023, they finally appeared. Since then, the Liberals have done very little to help Canadians cope with rising costs.

“Justin Trudeau and Pierre Poilievre have shown Canadians repeatedly that, despite all their words, they're not interested in standing up to CEOs who are getting even richer off the backs of Canadians,” said MacGregor. “Almost half of all Canadians are prioritizing cost over their nutrition, the Liberals' plan of crossing their fingers and hoping for the best isn’t working, and the Conservatives' plan of grandstanding also isn’t working. They’re letting Canadians down—but New Democrats won’t."

“We’re 22 months into food prices being unaffordable - and they show no sign of coming back down. Canadians can’t keep sacrificing so that these CEOs can rake in billions.”