Weston can't be his own boss
Among us No Name pasta gobblers, billionaires have to earn benefit of the doubt
If only Ayn Rand’s vision of brave billionaires that makes rich libertarians grin as they gaze in the mirror was real. Hard working, determined and eminently fair while being immune to the complaints of the lazy. Galen Weston is proof that’s not how they really act.
He’s been asked some tough questions on Parliament Hill as to why his company is raking in profits hand-over-fist. This is while Canadians deal with inflation rates that are high. And Statistics Canada data shows food prices are rising much faster than general inflation.
Because of all this, Weston was called to Ottawa. They pinned him down specifically because he was president of Loblaw. They asked him tough questions about inflation and their increasing profits. He said most of the profit increase was from selling clothes, lipstick and other non-grocery items. We didn’t get any proof to back that up, that information is privileged and won’t be volunteered.
Sylvain Charlebois rightly pointed out the focus on Weston specifically is a tad unfair. But let’s not tune our violin strings for him. I mean, when you say, “our profit doesn’t go to me” and you’re worth an estimated $7.6 billion, you may not spend enough time in rooms that aren’t full of other billionaires to be able to read a room full of your customers.
You can understand, though, why the ire is directed at him. His company was at the forefront of the revelation that they were 'allegedly' fixing the price of bread for at least 14 years. The list of Canadians who would believe that major grocery chains would take the risk of breaking the law to fix the price of just one item is short. It’s not hard to convince us that they were fixing the prices of many other items.
The investigation also followed a predictable trajectory that seems to help the rich and powerful avoid accountability. The revelation came in 2017, and there were some flashy raids on high-profile people. Sitting here today in 2023, the Competition Bureau’s probe is still ongoing, nobody has faced any recourse, and no new laws or regulations have been introduced.
So, I guess we are supposed to take Weston’s word when he says he isn’t making more money, that Canadians’ fervour for lipstick is driving increased profits, and it is farmers and food processors who are really to blame.
Not that those statements are patently false, but why on earth would he even think he has the social credit to be believed? The company you’re president of certainly doesn’t, it’s actively being investigated for collusion.
LESS ACCOUNTABILITY
But let’s get back to the original premise. Why do billionaires feel like they can just exist in the same way a person who makes a median income? Weston, like most everyone worth over a billion dollars who isn’t named Musk, just kind of naturally feels they should be allowed to exist as a private person while making decisions that affect everyone. Potentially illegal decisions — but we don’t have the power to compel a meaningful and timely investigation.
So after being grilled in Ottawa his response is to step down as the president of Loblaw. This wasn’t, of course, directly related to that at all, the company says. They’ve been looking since 2021 when
Weston stepped in. They just conveniently found someone now that the position of president of Loblaw has become untenable. He’ll just have to sit back in his role as president as CEO of George Weston, Loblaw’s parent company. Basically, he’s no longer his own boss, and now he’s Teflon when Parliament Hill needs to give someone a stern talking-to then go back to business as usual.
I guess in circles of billionaires the benefit of doubt is just naturally conferred upon you when you join (or are more likely born into) the club. But out here in the real world, amongst the No Name pasta gobblers, you've got to earn that social credit.
If Galen Weston wants anything approaching the benefit of the doubt, he has decades of poor behaviour to account for. Nobody is coming to save you. It doesn't matter if it was you as an individual who committed these misdeeds, we are all so used to diffusion of responsibility that blame never really lands anywhere when the rich are called to task that we don't even really expect justice, and that's the saddest part of grocery gouging.
You'll need to work as hard as one of Ayn Rand's perfect billionaires to get out from the hole you're in.
Brian Mumford, a web editor with SaltWire based in Steam Mill Village, was a part-time employee of Loblaws during high school and into his early 20s while he was attending school. He never got to meet Galen Weston.