A way to help Canadians cope with skyrocketing food bills, or nothing more than a publicity stunt?
For anti-poverty activists, politicians and everyday Canadians on social media, it was unquestionably the last, after Loblaws announced on Monday it was freezing the prices of its No Name-branded products until January 31, 2023. .
“It definitely looks like a marketing game. It won’t really change much because food prices are already so high,” said Leila Sarangi, national director of Campaign 2000, a coalition of groups working to end child and family poverty.
“For people on low incomes, people on fixed incomes, the working poor, people with disabilities who are on disability programs, children living in poverty, they’re not really going to benefit from this welfare announcement” , Sarangi said.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the price freeze is proof of his party’s claim that retailers have more control over food prices than they admit.
“The pressure works. The mask is up – grocery store CEOs have always had the power to freeze prices. With your pressure, we exposed greed and forced them into action. But, this is still not enough. I will keep fighting until you can get fair food prices,” Singh tweeted before an NDP motion on food inflation passed unanimously in the House of Commons. (A motion is not a piece of legislation and therefore has no legal effect).
The spokeswoman for Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Catherine Thomas, said in an emailed statement that the price freeze on approximately 1,500 No Name-branded products will give Canadians pause as inflation continues to rise.
“Today’s price freeze will mean that Canadians can expect greater predictability on their grocery bill. Additionally, in the coming weeks we will continue to lower prices (both on no name products and other products) through PC Optimum, in our flyer and in our stores, all designed to provide immediate relief. in the face of escalating food costs,” said Thomas.
A Metro Inc. spokesperson, however, said the price freeze is something that happens every year, anyway.
“It is industry practice to have a price freeze from November 1 to February 5 for all private label and national brand grocery products and this will be the case across all Metro banners (in Ontario, Metro, Food Basics, Adonis). There may be some price increases received before October 31 that will show up on the shelf, but no price increases thereafter,” Marie-Claude Bacon said in an emailed statement.
A spokesperson for Empire Co. Ltd., which controls Sobeys, Longo’s and Farm Boy, did not respond to a request for comment.
Thomas did not respond to questions about No Name’s price increases over the past two years, or why Loblaws did not extend the price freeze to other products on its shelves, including its Flagship President’s Choice brand.
Food industry analyst Sylvain Charlebois said it’s no mystery why the price freeze was not wider: The PC product line is one of the Loblaws most vital.
“They are going to fight for this one with everything they have. The last thing they want to do is even suggest it’s a discount brand,” said Charlebois, director of Dalhousie University’s Agrifood Analysis Laboratory.
Charlebois agreed there’s a definite marketing element to Loblaws’ announcement, as it came just two days before Statistics Canada announced September inflation data.
“Now when the inflation numbers come out and people are hammering at retailers saying, ‘What have you done to help? Loblaws will have an answer,” said Charlebois, who added that freezing prices on house brands, including No Name and PC, is easier for retailers to do than with other brands.
“They have a lot more control over the private label economy and supply chain than they have over anything else. Think about what happens if you are a supplier. Your only client, or your biggest client, comes up to you and says, “We are freeze prices, so you’re going to have to help us do that. What is a supplier going to do? said Charlebois.
Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the Conference Board of Canada, said he expects food inflation to continue to top the main consumer price index released Wednesday.
“I’m a little worried about the September issue. Most commodity prices continued to fall in September, but it’s taking a bit of time before that trickles down to consumer prices. Food prices are an example of this, they are likely to remain warmer than headline inflation in September,” said Antunes, who predicts headline inflation to remain close to the 7% seen in August, when food inflation hit a 41-year high of 10.9 percent. hundred.
BMO chief economist Doug Porter said the bank was forecasting an overall figure of 6.8%, but expects food inflation to be higher than that.
“Food inflation is expected to remain elevated through the month, but we’ll be looking for signs that it may be peaking (albeit still at a very rapid pace),” Porter said. “The pressure on food costs is multi-layered, but compounded by the persistent drought in the American plains, the war in Ukraine, high energy costs, among others. I would point out that grocery inflation in the US is even higher than ours, so it’s a widespread problem.
On social media, Canadians mocked No Name’s price freeze.
“This is a publicity stunt that tries to make us forget that Galen Weston is an oligarch”, tweeted Julie S. Lalonde.
“Raise prices to record highs, abusing consumers, then freeze prices at those record highs…Is Galen Weston expecting a gold star?” #cdnpoli #greedflation #Loblaws“, tweeted El Canaco.
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