Class action suit over alleged bread cartel to go ahead
Action says producers, retailers colluded to fix prices since 2001
MONTREAL— Karim Renno says his recently authorized classaction lawsuit against major food retailers and producers accused of fixing the price of bread across Canada is special, because a key player has already admitted to it.
Price-fixing is notoriously difficult to prove in court, the lawyer said in an interview Friday, but in this case, Loblaw Companies and Canada’s Competition Bureau have done a lot of the work.
“What’s extraordinary here is not just the investigation by the Competition Bureau,” Renno said, but we also have affidavits and the evidence. We have specific information from (Loblaw), who said ‘this is how it worked.’ ”
On Thursday, Quebec Superior Court Justice Pierre Gagnon authorized a class-action lawsuit against a group of food retailers and bread producers, for allegedly having colluded together to fix the price of bread across Canada since 2001.
The lawsuit involves any person, association or partnership residing in Quebec who bought packaged bread from the defendants between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 19, 2019 — the date the suit was authorized in court.
Loblaw and its parent company, George Weston Ltd., as well as Metro Inc., Empire Company Ltd. subsidiary Sobeys Inc., Walmart, Giant Tiger Stores Ltd. and Canada Bread Company Ltd., are listed as defendants.
Marie-Claude Bacon, spokesperson for Metro, said in an email, the company “does not believe that it, or any of its employees, have contravened the Competition Act.
“The authorization judgment is a purely procedural step that does not decide the merits of the case. The company intends to contest this class action on the substantive since it believes it is unfounded.”
Giant Tiger said it has no reason to believe the company or any employees violated the Competition Act.
“We have and will continue to co-operate fully with the Competition Bureau and look forward to seeing the results of the complete investigation,” Alison Scarlett, director of brand communications, said in an email.
Jason Patuano, director of communications for Sobeys, said the company sees “no evidence” of any Sobeys involvement. “We reiterate, yet again, that we have seen absolutely no indication that Sobeys contravened competition law,” he wrote in an email.
Attempts to reach the other defendants for comment were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit, and the green light given to it earlier in the week, were widely expected because Loblaw had come forward in 2015 to the Competition Bureau and admitted to taking part in the scheme.
The company also named its alleged accomplices, who are listed as defendants in the case, Renno said.
In 2017, George Weston Ltd. and Loblaw released a statement saying: “The arrangement involved the co-ordination of retail and wholesale prices of certain packaged bread products over a period extending from late 2001 to March 2015. Under the arrangement, the participants regularly increased prices on a co-ordinated basis.”
According to federal law, companies that admit wrongdoing and co-operate with the Competition Bureau are granted immunity from criminal charges or penalties — but they are still liable in civil court.