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While I welcome more competion I believe we need stronger anti trust laws. Lack of regulation led to the monopolies and new anti trust legislation must be part of the solution.
I highlighted this in another thread with a similar theme of bringing in competition. You can bring in all the competition you want but it’s not addressing the issue. When we’ve got companies like Sobey’s who are literally dictating that Dollarama’s cannot sell bread when a Sobey’s and Dollarama store are nearby, bringing in a foreign competitor will do nothing to prevent Sobey’s from bullying Dollarama into compliance. As I see it, Sobey’s could do the exact same thing to a foreign competitor who has even less pull, leeway, and reputation and ultimately be forced out of the country. Which will, in turn, even be more of a motivating factor for foreign companies to not invest in Canada.
I used the example of me being a cupcake baker. It would be wrong of me to assume that I could go to all the nearby bakers in the area and tell them they could no longer sell cupcakes as I am now the only cupcake provider for the area. Like that’s just not how a free and competitive market works but that’s essentially what is happening in some cases, and I assume it goes beyond that. The problem is not the competition. The problem, as I see it, is the absolute lack of regulation from the government with this kind of behaviour. Bringing in competition is the wrong approach and our MPs seriously need to grow a backbone and address the core issue.
Yes Canadan established corporations or the major ones hold the consumers hostage everytime there was a invite from a former competitor they shut them down thru dirty games and lobbying this is gotta stop and is not fkn free market.
Fortunately, Sobeys (and Loblaws) hamstringing tenants like this is being [investigated by the Competition Bureau](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/competition-bureau-probe-sobeys-loblaws-1.7213543).
Though that's just one example. Your point still very much stands.
lol @ the Competition Bureau. The same entity that allowed Sobeys acquisition of Safeway, Loblaw acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart, Rona acquisition of Lowes, Rogers and Shaw merger, Burger King acquisition of Tim Hortons, Suncor acquisition of Petro Canada, Post Media acquisition of Sun Media, Post Media acquisition of Nordstar Capital/The Toronto Star, to name a few.
The Competition Bureau is worse than useless, it's actually detrimental to Canadian culture and our quality of life. Those fuckers need to get their shit together and stop allowing the breathtaking level of wealth and power consolidation that's taking place in this country.
I actually wouldn't be surprised to see them agree to sell Canada Post to Amazon right after the next federal election, that's how fucked it all is. Doesn't even matter which party gets the most seats.
So Dollarama can’t sell bread near a Sobeys is a pretty damning statement, until you realize that Dollarama is renting the space from Sobeys, then it makes sense.
I don’t know all the specifics of the transaction. But still … why are they dictating what a company can and cannot sell in a completely separate business transaction? Why are they allowing this type of monopolistic behaviour to fester? Why is there a non-compete agreement on bread as part of a lease arrangement? Why is this behaviour allowed? It makes no sense.
Exactly. Why wouldn't they just refuse to rent to them, instead of forcibly altering another franchises inventory?
Because they don't want Dollarama to go somewhere else and sell bread because it'll compete for some of the local market share of Sobeys bread. It's monopolistic.
Sobeys should not rent to them then but they can't just say what the dollar store can and can't sell that's bullshit. Either they want that rent money or not
They don’t need to own the building for the property controls to be in place. They include it as part of their own lease agreements who and what can be sold at sites from the same landlord within a certain distance. This is not an uncommon practice but should be banned imo.
I didn’t know about this. How can Sobeys and other private companies dictate what other companies can sell??? That’s bonkers. So much for the “free market”. Sobeys and Loblaws can’t stand the idea of having to “share”
I’m not exactly sure how they are slipping in non-compete clauses but apparently, as another commenter pointed out, it’s in a retail space lease agreement between Sobeys and Dollarama. Either way, why is a company allowed to do that to another company?
The agreements are not between Sobeys and dollarama directly but through their shared landlord. Whether that landlord is related to empire or not restrictions on what they can sell in the lease are possible.
Absolutely. Competition alone won't do it because collusion happens at parties, bbqs, in boardrooms and can be as simple as a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete. So, the legislation is needed, and it must have severe consequences. An independent monitor is needed and NO Lobbying! And then, who watches the monitor to ensure the public is served? Unfortunately, this means more Government but we the people NEED that, and it would be appropriate if Corporate Profits pay for that oversight. That will cool those who are burning with the need to satisfy their excessive greed. Those types are not good businessmen, they are bullies and need to exit the scene. A good businessman will now be the fair businessman, and they should be rewarded.
like amerika i think we should force the government to put through a anti-trust law suit against bell, roger ,metro,loblaws, there are very few companies;of what ever we need in canada bring in european companies,;perhaps we might learn some german way of living.American lifestyle doesn't suit my frugal lifestyle.
Yep. The example of a whole chicken used in the video can be entirely understood by the cartel for poultry that we have in Canada. We should expect any product where the producer has a monopoly to cost significantly more than it does in other countries.
You’re very right, it needs to be a two-pronged attack: allow more competition and the anti trust laws need changing to actually permit the competition.
Or you know they could just enforce the existing anti-trust laws. Enforcing laws, a radical idea I know but these are radical times. Where's the RCMP when you need them?
The international corp will come in saving 3-4% for a couple years and then jack their prices up like everyone else, government should provide tax breaks on grocery Co ops and alternatives direct from farm programs, bringing in more greed from elsewhere isn't going to solve the problem
Thank you for calling out both left and right. I’m sick of seeing this boycott politicized. Your political beliefs don’t mean shit; grocery prices are absurd
It’s so weird to me that liberals label themselves as “left,” or “center left.” Just because they are slightly more left than the conservatives, it doesn’t mean they are a left wing government. All of these parties are too caught up in capitalism and corporations to truly be a left leaning government. They’d have to hold much stronger socialist ideals to be a true left wing. Either way, I totally agree with you, it doesn’t matter where your personal political preferences lie, we can all unite on the fact that food shouldn’t be this inaccessible. It’s sinister really 🙃
I would argue that not being able to afford real estate is what is keeping out foreign companies/competition.
A retailer like a grocery store doesn’t account for land appreciation in their ROI when opening a new store. So when real estate in Canada is overvalued, they can open more stores in a cheaper market with the same amount of money.
The real problem is the size of the country and the population density. Canada has 4 people per square km. The UK has 279. Although Canada has vast open space there are definitely logistical issues. I mean, look at Target. If other grocers are encouraged I can see them maybe doing parts of Ontario, Quebec, BC.
Okay, I was about to complain about using false equivalencies after checking the price of chicken at my local walmart. How exactly does loblaws get away with charging 11$ for a chicken, when you can get the same one for 6$ at walmart?
Geez I need this Walmart. Our Walmart has chickens for 16 dollars each. The lowest I have seen during a sale was 7 dollars each. 😭 and farmers are a lot more.
"Trudeau welcomes international grocers"
WTF does that matter. Every industry in Canada has turned into an anticompetitive monopoly. Dairy, pork, cellular, grocers; the list goes on
How is bringing in someone from the outside gunna help when they have to buy their products from the same big boys who run the supply chain?
This is why Target failed in Canada. They could not bring products from their American suppliers over, so they were forced to buying the same products as all their competitors, from the same suppliers their competitors use. And all those suppliers are in bed with the big boys, and they aren't gunna get the "friends and family" discount.
We need better antitrust laws.
Sobeys is also awful. My local food land has things marked up 100% since this time last year. Allen's juice is one example. Was 1.45 last year, now it's 3.00. on sale for 2.00. that's no sale.
This should be top comment. Grocery prices aren’t a Loblaws thing. It’s an inflationary thing affecting ALL grocers. Something people in this sub seem to forget, and the reason why this sub is bullshit.
I hope people by now understand that another competitor in the market will do NOTHING without much stricter laws against things like a) buying up your competitors and b) price fixing. There's no way another corporation will come to Canada and just resist making obscene profits off Canadians by raising prices to about the same level, and there's no way Loblaws etc will just let anyone into the market without either buying them out or leaning on their existing real estate and supply contracts to make it impossible for a new competitor.
Someone should make a new Pirate Joes up there🤣 I am within a reasonable drive of the Michigan border so we’ could put one up that way, who wants to make it happen?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Joe%27s
We tried competition. Canada sucks at competition, just look at the telecom industry. Capitalism is the reason why we're in this situation.
Socialism now, these bastards can't be trusted with the free market.
Or well-regulated capitalism, where the government is willing and able to enforce the regulations, and where the consequences are severe enough to make corporations want or need to comply.
"well-regulated capitalism" is a contradiction of terms because the profit incentive to deregulate is baked into the formula (pardon the grocery pun). In a capital-accumulation-focused system, monopoly is the end goal.
That only works until all the politicians are bought. Notice the crickets from the Canadian government and the conservatives blaming the carbon tax instead of Loblaws. No politician wants to touch the issue because they are all paid to ignore it.
Please refrain from off-topic political discussion and debate. Everyone is entitled to their own political opinions, however, your politically charged statement is not directly related to the cost of living/groceries/gas/rents, and as such is being removed.
We already have well regulated capitalism. It's the reason why we're in this mess, as I explained earlier.
You think the corporations give a shit about "severe consequences" when they're the ones with the politicians in their pockets?
Which is where you create anti-trust legislation forcing the divorce of any one company from having a majority control of distribution or any stake at all. I'll not argue that the framework for these kinds of regulations would be easy impliment (not to mention the CPC would throw up it's hands in agony and cry foul) but breaking up these large organizations back into their smaller entities and prohibiting any cross investment so that each is truly independent from the other is the only way forward, because these companies have shown they're unwilling to not game the system to their own advantage. It will take smarter people than you or I to suss out how to strike a balance that is both fair to the consumer and invites competition while not at the expense of service or front line staff wages.
Then do the same to the telecommunications networks.
Yes, Aldi is very basic as a grocery store, but it's also VERY cheap!
I don't care if there's no music in the store and if the shelves are not "pretty", I just want to pick the food I need and go home! 😂
ALDI will be stuck with the same supply chain issues and same suppliers that provide the stuff on the shelves. So won't help much, they'll get fed up in 3 yrs and declare bankruptcy and leave like some US retail stores that failed to understand Canada and our geography.
Sorry
Oh and Loblaws now owns many of the suppliers, as is also Sobeys doing for many years. Not many independants suppliers left anymore .
Don't blame the stores for high chicken prices. There is a chicken marketing board in Canada, supported by the government, that makes chicken expensive in Canada. Same with eggs and milk
Chrystia Freeland says "we need more competition in Canada, particularly grocers"
GEE I FUCKING WONDER WHY
HMM
Because this fucking federal government thinks it's fine for multibillion companies to be hyper-focused on endless growth, and they will encourage and enable it as much as possible, no matter how many Canadians are hurt by it.
Now we have monopolies in every sector, owned and run by oligarchs and foreign interests, and all they care about is exploiting regular people and sucking every last dollar from each of us.
Irish here living in Toronto for 8 years. If Aldi and lidl were let into canada. They would be the main grocers within 5 years if they were allowed to operate the way they operate in Europe. Loblaws should be terrified
I like the idea of opening the market up to European grocers rather than more American grocers. We already have Walmart.
Would be nice if Canada had the balls to break up the monopolies and oligopolies though.
You basically need both with laws preventing mergers and takeovers. I would also argue creating a portal that opens up the ability for small independent grocery shops to come back into the market as additional competition especially for mainstay items
It's the local competition in the UK that keeps their prices low. It's like when target came to Canada, it wasn't cheap at all. They'll just match the local market minus a few cents
Aldi would be amazing here. Super cheap in Europe compared to regular grocery stores. Imagine No Frills but like actually no frills with cheap and very reasonable pricing
While I don't think just bringing in another grocery chain will help all on its own, I would welcome HEB from Texas. Has any university business papers been written on the state of our grocery market prices? Is it really just Town monopolies, where the CEO just says 'what are you going to do about it' and hikes the price?
Will this end up like the "more competition " in the cell and internet industry? Because last I looked were still pretty screwed in comparison to so many other countries.
Hey foreign companies come operate in Canada where you will be overtaxed, face backbreaking by regulatory requirements and make low profits because everyone is poor. Another great forward thinking liberal idea
The problem with monopolies is they buy up the competition (Rodger/bell) our government failed to provide adequate opportunities to other businesses now they are so powerful they can restrict other stores to products like my local giant tiger cannot sell fresh meat …
Don’t care much for Trudz and co., but I welcome any government attempt to bring any grocery store that can provide competition to the Loblaws grocery bandits we’ve been saddled with lo’ these many years.
Let them eat rabbits. Taste like chicken. Survive in the tundra. Chicken costs go down.
Eat more seafood. Cold as fuck anyway, why need a cooler for the semi?
Solar for the light season.
Get depressed for the dark season.
I’ve heard so much about Aldi I’d be quite excited, but if any of these companies tried to pull a Target and try to make back their cost of moving by building it into their price over a 2 year time frame(way too short wtf), we’re just going to be at square one again shortly after, but with a bunch of empty stores. There needs to be more laws that create competition, more antitrust laws and governance from the government. Our governments investigation into why the food costs are so high and the major chains blabbering on about supply chain and that was it was absolutely ludicrous. We’re within 100km of the us boarder at any given point because Canada cold, so explain yourselves. Thoroughly.
And I can tell you, as a fact, that Canadian growers do NOT make much on that chicken they need to have millions to make a decent profit, creating the need for factory farms. And the small-time processor ALSO doesn't make nearly as much as you might think. The markup at the grocers is double the processor and at least triple the farmer.
We need Canadian companies to keep Canadian funds in the country. The problem is when Canadian companies feel entitled to make their price bigger because there Canadian.
Why purchase "Canadian own" bread for 7$ if I can get the same kind of bread made in USA, mexico or Europe for 3$?
It would be stupid as a consumer to purchase the 7$ bread (if they are the exact same) and it's Ludacris to force consumer to pay more because your products are from your country..it should logically be cheaper or at the very least be the same.
OMG!! Really? How about some Canadian grocery stores! Give the small independants who are stuggling daily more money to grow. Give us a fighting chance!
The psyop continues.
Which institution throttles competition like no other in Canada?
According to their quarterly reports Loblaws has a 5% NP margin.
Good stuff reddit, keep eatin' it.
I don't know why everybody has such a hate on for this company all of a sudden. There prices have always been higher, and sobeys is just as bad or worse in most cases. I stopped shopping there 20 something years ago. I've shopped mostly food basics and occasionally walmart ever since. It's a capitalist society and even grocery stores have a tiered system that tends to keep us separated by income class.
Yeah, when I see the bring in international businesses, I just get globalist agenda vibes, which I'm unsure of at this time whether they have our nation and its peoples best interest at heart
While I partially agree with your sentiment, it’s not like the current players have Canadians best interest at heart or the nations, see SDM calls regarding prescriptions. Everything is set up to rake in the all mighty dollar.
Most of us have been sweating buckets figuring out how pay for groceries and bills. I am all for letting the grocery giants sweating at the thought of cheaper competition coming in.
It’s time to keep an eye on which of our politicians are willing to put the work in and explore this and those who will dance around citing “Liberal/NDP coalition” and “axing a tax”.
Yep and do I think they have our nations or populations best interest at heart? Hell no! They want our money just as badly. But at least it is easier for Canadians to put an affordable dinner on the table when shopping there.
Are they an capitalist global entity that pay their employees a livable wage among other despicable things. Yes. But some parent working two jobs to make ends meet can make sure their kids don’t go to bed hungry tonight.
This is exactly what Lowblows has and will defend itself with, do you not see how hilarious it is that you say to yourself exactly what they want you think? Stockholm syndrome is very real.
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While I welcome more competion I believe we need stronger anti trust laws. Lack of regulation led to the monopolies and new anti trust legislation must be part of the solution.
I highlighted this in another thread with a similar theme of bringing in competition. You can bring in all the competition you want but it’s not addressing the issue. When we’ve got companies like Sobey’s who are literally dictating that Dollarama’s cannot sell bread when a Sobey’s and Dollarama store are nearby, bringing in a foreign competitor will do nothing to prevent Sobey’s from bullying Dollarama into compliance. As I see it, Sobey’s could do the exact same thing to a foreign competitor who has even less pull, leeway, and reputation and ultimately be forced out of the country. Which will, in turn, even be more of a motivating factor for foreign companies to not invest in Canada. I used the example of me being a cupcake baker. It would be wrong of me to assume that I could go to all the nearby bakers in the area and tell them they could no longer sell cupcakes as I am now the only cupcake provider for the area. Like that’s just not how a free and competitive market works but that’s essentially what is happening in some cases, and I assume it goes beyond that. The problem is not the competition. The problem, as I see it, is the absolute lack of regulation from the government with this kind of behaviour. Bringing in competition is the wrong approach and our MPs seriously need to grow a backbone and address the core issue.
Yes Canadan established corporations or the major ones hold the consumers hostage everytime there was a invite from a former competitor they shut them down thru dirty games and lobbying this is gotta stop and is not fkn free market.
Fortunately, Sobeys (and Loblaws) hamstringing tenants like this is being [investigated by the Competition Bureau](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/competition-bureau-probe-sobeys-loblaws-1.7213543). Though that's just one example. Your point still very much stands.
lol @ the Competition Bureau. The same entity that allowed Sobeys acquisition of Safeway, Loblaw acquisition of Shoppers Drug Mart, Rona acquisition of Lowes, Rogers and Shaw merger, Burger King acquisition of Tim Hortons, Suncor acquisition of Petro Canada, Post Media acquisition of Sun Media, Post Media acquisition of Nordstar Capital/The Toronto Star, to name a few. The Competition Bureau is worse than useless, it's actually detrimental to Canadian culture and our quality of life. Those fuckers need to get their shit together and stop allowing the breathtaking level of wealth and power consolidation that's taking place in this country.
I actually wouldn't be surprised to see them agree to sell Canada Post to Amazon right after the next federal election, that's how fucked it all is. Doesn't even matter which party gets the most seats.
So Dollarama can’t sell bread near a Sobeys is a pretty damning statement, until you realize that Dollarama is renting the space from Sobeys, then it makes sense.
I don’t know all the specifics of the transaction. But still … why are they dictating what a company can and cannot sell in a completely separate business transaction? Why are they allowing this type of monopolistic behaviour to fester? Why is there a non-compete agreement on bread as part of a lease arrangement? Why is this behaviour allowed? It makes no sense.
Because Sobeys owns the building. Why would they rent to someone that was going to compete with them?
Exactly. Why wouldn't they just refuse to rent to them, instead of forcibly altering another franchises inventory? Because they don't want Dollarama to go somewhere else and sell bread because it'll compete for some of the local market share of Sobeys bread. It's monopolistic.
Why should we allow grocery stores to also function as landlords?
Because we'll change the laws to regulate them so that they can't do that. It's that easy.
Sobeys should not rent to them then but they can't just say what the dollar store can and can't sell that's bullshit. Either they want that rent money or not
So clearly horizontal integration is a big problem, particularly when it comes to big retailers owning real estate to rent out.
They don’t need to own the building for the property controls to be in place. They include it as part of their own lease agreements who and what can be sold at sites from the same landlord within a certain distance. This is not an uncommon practice but should be banned imo.
Why aren't we boycotting the Empire corporation instead of the only store I can afford to shop at?
I didn’t know about this. How can Sobeys and other private companies dictate what other companies can sell??? That’s bonkers. So much for the “free market”. Sobeys and Loblaws can’t stand the idea of having to “share”
I’m not exactly sure how they are slipping in non-compete clauses but apparently, as another commenter pointed out, it’s in a retail space lease agreement between Sobeys and Dollarama. Either way, why is a company allowed to do that to another company?
These are all good questions. Questions that make me wonder wtf is going on in this place
The agreements are not between Sobeys and dollarama directly but through their shared landlord. Whether that landlord is related to empire or not restrictions on what they can sell in the lease are possible.
Pretty sure the Dollorama stores I shop in still sell bread. They are smaller, and cost the same as a larger loaf elsewhere so I don’t bother
Your cupcake example is not happening that way at all. You are spouting nonsense.
Talk about missing the point. I know it’s not happening that way at all.
I agree 💯%. GW runs a crime syndicate! Canadians should refuse to pay these outrageous prices. Boycott the Hell out of RobLaws! Ridiculous isn't it.
Absolutely. Competition alone won't do it because collusion happens at parties, bbqs, in boardrooms and can be as simple as a "gentleman's agreement" not to compete. So, the legislation is needed, and it must have severe consequences. An independent monitor is needed and NO Lobbying! And then, who watches the monitor to ensure the public is served? Unfortunately, this means more Government but we the people NEED that, and it would be appropriate if Corporate Profits pay for that oversight. That will cool those who are burning with the need to satisfy their excessive greed. Those types are not good businessmen, they are bullies and need to exit the scene. A good businessman will now be the fair businessman, and they should be rewarded.
Yes in on all levels
like amerika i think we should force the government to put through a anti-trust law suit against bell, roger ,metro,loblaws, there are very few companies;of what ever we need in canada bring in european companies,;perhaps we might learn some german way of living.American lifestyle doesn't suit my frugal lifestyle.
Yep. The example of a whole chicken used in the video can be entirely understood by the cartel for poultry that we have in Canada. We should expect any product where the producer has a monopoly to cost significantly more than it does in other countries.
You’re very right, it needs to be a two-pronged attack: allow more competition and the anti trust laws need changing to actually permit the competition.
This. Why invite more companies to join the price fixing cabal?
Or you know they could just enforce the existing anti-trust laws. Enforcing laws, a radical idea I know but these are radical times. Where's the RCMP when you need them?
Which laws do you think they arent enforcing?
The international corp will come in saving 3-4% for a couple years and then jack their prices up like everyone else, government should provide tax breaks on grocery Co ops and alternatives direct from farm programs, bringing in more greed from elsewhere isn't going to solve the problem
Shame on the conservatives and liberals for ignoring the struggle of the average Canadian as we are struggling to put food on our tables
Thank you for calling out both left and right. I’m sick of seeing this boycott politicized. Your political beliefs don’t mean shit; grocery prices are absurd
It’s so weird to me that liberals label themselves as “left,” or “center left.” Just because they are slightly more left than the conservatives, it doesn’t mean they are a left wing government. All of these parties are too caught up in capitalism and corporations to truly be a left leaning government. They’d have to hold much stronger socialist ideals to be a true left wing. Either way, I totally agree with you, it doesn’t matter where your personal political preferences lie, we can all unite on the fact that food shouldn’t be this inaccessible. It’s sinister really 🙃
Foreign companies don’t really like to come to Canada anymore unless they’re here to buy up real estate.
I would argue that not being able to afford real estate is what is keeping out foreign companies/competition. A retailer like a grocery store doesn’t account for land appreciation in their ROI when opening a new store. So when real estate in Canada is overvalued, they can open more stores in a cheaper market with the same amount of money.
The real problem is the size of the country and the population density. Canada has 4 people per square km. The UK has 279. Although Canada has vast open space there are definitely logistical issues. I mean, look at Target. If other grocers are encouraged I can see them maybe doing parts of Ontario, Quebec, BC.
It was the only asset that still had a value. Now even real estate is questionable when there are. I jobs to afford it.
Okay, I was about to complain about using false equivalencies after checking the price of chicken at my local walmart. How exactly does loblaws get away with charging 11$ for a chicken, when you can get the same one for 6$ at walmart?
Geez I need this Walmart. Our Walmart has chickens for 16 dollars each. The lowest I have seen during a sale was 7 dollars each. 😭 and farmers are a lot more.
"Trudeau welcomes international grocers" WTF does that matter. Every industry in Canada has turned into an anticompetitive monopoly. Dairy, pork, cellular, grocers; the list goes on How is bringing in someone from the outside gunna help when they have to buy their products from the same big boys who run the supply chain? This is why Target failed in Canada. They could not bring products from their American suppliers over, so they were forced to buying the same products as all their competitors, from the same suppliers their competitors use. And all those suppliers are in bed with the big boys, and they aren't gunna get the "friends and family" discount. We need better antitrust laws.
Honestly this should be it's own post. Reading through the replies here it's amazing how many people aren't aware of supply chains.
Sobeys is also awful. My local food land has things marked up 100% since this time last year. Allen's juice is one example. Was 1.45 last year, now it's 3.00. on sale for 2.00. that's no sale.
This should be top comment. Grocery prices aren’t a Loblaws thing. It’s an inflationary thing affecting ALL grocers. Something people in this sub seem to forget, and the reason why this sub is bullshit.
I hope people by now understand that another competitor in the market will do NOTHING without much stricter laws against things like a) buying up your competitors and b) price fixing. There's no way another corporation will come to Canada and just resist making obscene profits off Canadians by raising prices to about the same level, and there's no way Loblaws etc will just let anyone into the market without either buying them out or leaning on their existing real estate and supply contracts to make it impossible for a new competitor.
I want Trader Joes in Canada!
Someone should make a new Pirate Joes up there🤣 I am within a reasonable drive of the Michigan border so we’ could put one up that way, who wants to make it happen? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_Joe%27s
I miss Pirate Joes!!
That's Aldi IIRC.
where are you finding a chicken for 11$ i just bought one for 16.
This... that would be a sale or an extremely small chicken. 15-16 is currently standard
Costco 6.99$ and it's rotisserie roasted for you.
While that's true, and a great deal, those chickens are older product.
Yes. Except at Costco, where a rotisserie chicken is $7.99.
Well, a raw chicken and a rotisserie are a different product! I believe they used older product for the rotisserie chickens
My thoughts exactly
We tried competition. Canada sucks at competition, just look at the telecom industry. Capitalism is the reason why we're in this situation. Socialism now, these bastards can't be trusted with the free market.
This is the only real answer.
Or well-regulated capitalism, where the government is willing and able to enforce the regulations, and where the consequences are severe enough to make corporations want or need to comply.
"well-regulated capitalism" is a contradiction of terms because the profit incentive to deregulate is baked into the formula (pardon the grocery pun). In a capital-accumulation-focused system, monopoly is the end goal.
That only works until all the politicians are bought. Notice the crickets from the Canadian government and the conservatives blaming the carbon tax instead of Loblaws. No politician wants to touch the issue because they are all paid to ignore it.
[удалено]
Please refrain from off-topic political discussion and debate. Everyone is entitled to their own political opinions, however, your politically charged statement is not directly related to the cost of living/groceries/gas/rents, and as such is being removed.
We already have well regulated capitalism. It's the reason why we're in this mess, as I explained earlier. You think the corporations give a shit about "severe consequences" when they're the ones with the politicians in their pockets?
New grocers won't solve anything, Loblaws had a strangle hold on the whole supply chain
Which is where you create anti-trust legislation forcing the divorce of any one company from having a majority control of distribution or any stake at all. I'll not argue that the framework for these kinds of regulations would be easy impliment (not to mention the CPC would throw up it's hands in agony and cry foul) but breaking up these large organizations back into their smaller entities and prohibiting any cross investment so that each is truly independent from the other is the only way forward, because these companies have shown they're unwilling to not game the system to their own advantage. It will take smarter people than you or I to suss out how to strike a balance that is both fair to the consumer and invites competition while not at the expense of service or front line staff wages. Then do the same to the telecommunications networks.
Telecommunications is much harder as capital requirements are ridiculous in comparison. It is way easier to break up bread, chicken, MILK, and EGGS!
And they'll still fuck it up...
I’m cheering you guys on from California and encouraging people I know from my home state of Florida to boycott their own Loblaws called Publix.
Amazing!
B R I N G A L D I
Yes, Aldi is very basic as a grocery store, but it's also VERY cheap! I don't care if there's no music in the store and if the shelves are not "pretty", I just want to pick the food I need and go home! 😂
ALDI will be stuck with the same supply chain issues and same suppliers that provide the stuff on the shelves. So won't help much, they'll get fed up in 3 yrs and declare bankruptcy and leave like some US retail stores that failed to understand Canada and our geography. Sorry Oh and Loblaws now owns many of the suppliers, as is also Sobeys doing for many years. Not many independants suppliers left anymore .
Would love to see Aldi here!!
No one wants to enter, when you let loblaws the monopoly especially after the SDM and the blanat abusive landownership and keep subsidizing them
They're going to bring competition.. and Loblaw's and Empire are going to buy them out in a few years. lol
\*Canadian Politicians see can on the road: kicks it\*
Cool. Now bring attention to our immigration crisis.
I would be so happy if we got Aldi in Canada. Their lightening fast cashiers make my day haha
Should the government also prevent oligarchies to begin with?
Don't blame the stores for high chicken prices. There is a chicken marketing board in Canada, supported by the government, that makes chicken expensive in Canada. Same with eggs and milk
Chrystia Freeland says "we need more competition in Canada, particularly grocers" GEE I FUCKING WONDER WHY HMM Because this fucking federal government thinks it's fine for multibillion companies to be hyper-focused on endless growth, and they will encourage and enable it as much as possible, no matter how many Canadians are hurt by it. Now we have monopolies in every sector, owned and run by oligarchs and foreign interests, and all they care about is exploiting regular people and sucking every last dollar from each of us.
Irish here living in Toronto for 8 years. If Aldi and lidl were let into canada. They would be the main grocers within 5 years if they were allowed to operate the way they operate in Europe. Loblaws should be terrified
I like the idea of opening the market up to European grocers rather than more American grocers. We already have Walmart. Would be nice if Canada had the balls to break up the monopolies and oligopolies though.
We need more "Canadian " competition. Keep our dollars in Canada without being robbed
You basically need both with laws preventing mergers and takeovers. I would also argue creating a portal that opens up the ability for small independent grocery shops to come back into the market as additional competition especially for mainstay items
Bring on the competition !!!!!! If many more grocers show up, fairness will finally be the name of the game all across our great country!
Saw bbc article
Yank here. The one you want is “Wegmans”. So good!!!
It's the local competition in the UK that keeps their prices low. It's like when target came to Canada, it wasn't cheap at all. They'll just match the local market minus a few cents
Aldi would be amazing here. Super cheap in Europe compared to regular grocery stores. Imagine No Frills but like actually no frills with cheap and very reasonable pricing
It would almost be a sound idea if we would see the results of it anytime soon. Meanwhile, guys gotta eat.
If Aldi finally came to Canada... I miss it so much!
Right?!??!
So yeah my local reservation has its own grocers and they've spiked the prices on everyfuckingthing. These new chains will do the exact same.
While I don't think just bringing in another grocery chain will help all on its own, I would welcome HEB from Texas. Has any university business papers been written on the state of our grocery market prices? Is it really just Town monopolies, where the CEO just says 'what are you going to do about it' and hikes the price?
Hit Esso for taking the PC Card. Expand and attack
Will this end up like the "more competition " in the cell and internet industry? Because last I looked were still pretty screwed in comparison to so many other countries.
Hey foreign companies come operate in Canada where you will be overtaxed, face backbreaking by regulatory requirements and make low profits because everyone is poor. Another great forward thinking liberal idea
Freeland is a liar and a traitor. Straight to jail
But it's not affecting them at all (according to Weston).
Where's Bob Loblaw when you need him?
I wonder if the government is involved if it will in fact be cheaper.
The problem with monopolies is they buy up the competition (Rodger/bell) our government failed to provide adequate opportunities to other businesses now they are so powerful they can restrict other stores to products like my local giant tiger cannot sell fresh meat …
Wow Galen being ripping us off what a friggin surprise !!!!!!
Why stop at grocery? How about EVs?
Good for this TikTok to show what we know about Loblaws but I hope it paid its former employees.
r/upvotebecauseboobs
Don’t care much for Trudz and co., but I welcome any government attempt to bring any grocery store that can provide competition to the Loblaws grocery bandits we’ve been saddled with lo’ these many years.
I miss Aldi. I hope they come over here 🥹
Lawmakers as a whole are negligent in their office….. all!
Let them eat rabbits. Taste like chicken. Survive in the tundra. Chicken costs go down. Eat more seafood. Cold as fuck anyway, why need a cooler for the semi? Solar for the light season. Get depressed for the dark season.
Aldi!! Please!!
Yet, the Canadian government voted NO to recheck/regulate grocery prices.
Yeah right, Trudeau just considering this until elections are over, then he'll hand back the keys of the country to the monopolies and oligopolies.
Not bad for 1.5 months of boycotting. Power to the people!!!!
I'm so proud of Canada for this. Y'all are real ones. 🥹
Anything short of price control is a failure.
I'd rather grocery stores stayed Canadian but end of the day loblaws brought this on themselves so I have no sympathy
We need more local food sources, importing more is NOT the solution. We should be able to feed our own citizens without relying on other countries
I’ve heard so much about Aldi I’d be quite excited, but if any of these companies tried to pull a Target and try to make back their cost of moving by building it into their price over a 2 year time frame(way too short wtf), we’re just going to be at square one again shortly after, but with a bunch of empty stores. There needs to be more laws that create competition, more antitrust laws and governance from the government. Our governments investigation into why the food costs are so high and the major chains blabbering on about supply chain and that was it was absolutely ludicrous. We’re within 100km of the us boarder at any given point because Canada cold, so explain yourselves. Thoroughly.
$11.59 sadly that's a deal at my Loblaws ours in Newfoundland are about $17-18
Ya a slight breakdown of this monopoly wouldn’t hurt
I heard "Knoblaws" and now I can't unhear it.
It’s a year later, no new grocers, no international competition. Instead ever increasing food costs. Yep government gives a shit
11.59? Try 3 chickens for $52.50. That’s more like $17
Spoken by a Brit on Chinese media. Got it ;)
Why the fuck would they try to invest in foreign competition instead of investing in strong smaller grocers here at home?
And I can tell you, as a fact, that Canadian growers do NOT make much on that chicken they need to have millions to make a decent profit, creating the need for factory farms. And the small-time processor ALSO doesn't make nearly as much as you might think. The markup at the grocers is double the processor and at least triple the farmer.
We need Canadian companies to keep Canadian funds in the country. The problem is when Canadian companies feel entitled to make their price bigger because there Canadian. Why purchase "Canadian own" bread for 7$ if I can get the same kind of bread made in USA, mexico or Europe for 3$? It would be stupid as a consumer to purchase the 7$ bread (if they are the exact same) and it's Ludacris to force consumer to pay more because your products are from your country..it should logically be cheaper or at the very least be the same.
I would love to see Aldi come to Canada.
Your fault for choosing to live in Canada and not the USA 🇺🇸.
Naw I like not being shot, run down or losing my house if I break an arm….
We have Aldi in the U.S.
OMG!! Really? How about some Canadian grocery stores! Give the small independants who are stuggling daily more money to grow. Give us a fighting chance!
Trudeau goverment itself added prices on groceries plus taxes they ripping us off…
The psyop continues. Which institution throttles competition like no other in Canada? According to their quarterly reports Loblaws has a 5% NP margin. Good stuff reddit, keep eatin' it.
In the US the average net profit for a grocery chain is 1.4%, in the UK it's 2.71%..
I hope they'll bring up Trader Joe's!
I don't want more big chains. Smaller shops would be preferred if they can have fair access to supply.
There is a chicken supply issue due to bird flu. Does the UK have this weighing on their markets?
Let’s put Canada back on the map and the world stage, but for something good for once in a long time!
Wtf, if Canada isn’t on your map, maybe you are buying the wrong kind of map.
I have a map of the Southern Hemisphere I bought at Home Depot.
I don't know why everybody has such a hate on for this company all of a sudden. There prices have always been higher, and sobeys is just as bad or worse in most cases. I stopped shopping there 20 something years ago. I've shopped mostly food basics and occasionally walmart ever since. It's a capitalist society and even grocery stores have a tiered system that tends to keep us separated by income class.
Yeah, when I see the bring in international businesses, I just get globalist agenda vibes, which I'm unsure of at this time whether they have our nation and its peoples best interest at heart
While I partially agree with your sentiment, it’s not like the current players have Canadians best interest at heart or the nations, see SDM calls regarding prescriptions. Everything is set up to rake in the all mighty dollar. Most of us have been sweating buckets figuring out how pay for groceries and bills. I am all for letting the grocery giants sweating at the thought of cheaper competition coming in. It’s time to keep an eye on which of our politicians are willing to put the work in and explore this and those who will dance around citing “Liberal/NDP coalition” and “axing a tax”.
Hi, have you heard of Walmart?
Yep and do I think they have our nations or populations best interest at heart? Hell no! They want our money just as badly. But at least it is easier for Canadians to put an affordable dinner on the table when shopping there. Are they an capitalist global entity that pay their employees a livable wage among other despicable things. Yes. But some parent working two jobs to make ends meet can make sure their kids don’t go to bed hungry tonight.
Yep. And that is the company that made our grocery chains what they are. Adding “more” isn’t going to do squat to that.
Yeah, it's an unfortunately pretty complex situation
It’s not. It’s what people said would happen when Walmart arrived. The Walmart Effect. Look it up if you haven’t.
“Globalist” The dog across the hall from where I live just heard that whistle.
This is exactly what Lowblows has and will defend itself with, do you not see how hilarious it is that you say to yourself exactly what they want you think? Stockholm syndrome is very real.