Major retailers must sign grocery code of conduct, minister says

OTTAWA — Federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay wouldn’t rule out the possibility of provincial or federal government intervention if the grocery code of conduct doesn’t have every major retailer on board.

In an interview, MacAulay said Thursday he will meet next week with federal Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and provincial ministers to discuss options for both provincial and federal governments if the major grocers don’t sign the code.

“Perhaps some changes have to be made,” he said.

MacAulay and Quebec Agriculture Minister André Lamontagne have expressed their disappointment to see the grocery code of conduct has still not been launched after years of work, with some “supply chain partners” hesitant to sign on.

In a statement Thursday, the ministers said the major grocers need to adopt and adhere to the code, adding that, in the coming days, they will be “reviewing all possible options available to us.”

“Two years of evaluating the situation would seem to me to be long enough,” MacAulay said.

At a House of Commons agriculture committee meeting in Ottawa on Thursday on stabilizing food prices, members of Parliament pressed Walmart Canada CEO Gonzalo Gebara and Loblaw chairman Galen Weston on why their companies have not yet signed the code.

Bloc Québécois MP Yves Perron accused both companies of “sabotaging” the development of the code.

Gebara said his company has participated in the development of the code, but is “not in a position at this time to commit” to it.

In the current version of the code, “there’s provisions that create bureaucracy and cost, cost that will inevitably end up on shelf prices,” he said.

Weston said Loblaw will sign the code, but not in its current form. Loblaw said it’s worried the code could “raise food prices for Canadians by more than $1 billion,” a figure Weston stood by on Thursday.

Weston told MPs on Thursday he’s concerned the code will give too much power in negotiations to large multinational manufacturers. Many manufacturers, he said, are already “signalling or submitting higher than expected cost increases for next year.”