GUELPH POLITICAST #478 - Breaking Down the Grocery Code (feat. Karen Proud)

The grocery industry in Canada is the epitome of monopoly; the Competition Bureau in 2023 reported that 75 per cent of all grocery purchases are made at one of the five major chains in Canada. In the wake of high grocery prices, which has been one of the pinchiest of pinch points in the post-COVID economy, people have wanted to see changes in the industry, so does that start with a more level playing field?

There’s been a lot of calls for action when it comes to grocery prices, but the issues actually go deeper. A 2021 report from the federal government found a lack of consistency and formality in the way that retailers were dealing with suppliers in Canada’s grocery chain. Mike Von Massow, a food economist at the University of Guelph told the CBC last year that this is due to the concentration of power in the five major retailers in Canada: Loblaw, Metro, Empire, Walmart and Costco.

That’s why the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct was created. It’s meant as a conflict resolution device that will create more transparency and reliability in the way that the stores deal with their suppliers, and also create a more level playing field for smaller, independent grocery retailers in Canada, but what it’s not meant to do is directly impact grocery prices. It does start to address a long-standing need for some standardized set of rules for doing business, and that’s not nothing.

Karen Proud, the president and adjudicator of the Office of the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct, joins us this week to talk about what the Code will do, and yes, what it won't do. She will also talk about what role members of the public will have in its functioning, the timeline, and how they will report their work once it’s fully implemented in the next year. Also, how might the Code might tangentially create lower prices anyway, and why did Proud leave a good gig as CEO of Fertilizer Canada to do this work? 

So let's decode the Code on this week's Guelph Politicast! 

You can learn more about the Code of Conduct and get updates about implementation at their website.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here, or download them on your favourite podcast app at Apple, TuneIn and Spotify .

Also, when you subscribe to the Guelph Politicast channel and you will also get an episode of Open Sources Guelph every Monday, and an episode of End Credits every Friday.