A quick-growing month-long boycott movement has begun against the grocery giant for the month of May, as shoppers express frustrations with high food prices.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
Greedy grocers?
Re “Loblaw reports 9.8% profit boost, hikes dividend” (Report on Business, May 2): I used to think Loblaw Cos. Ltd. was inventive, especially when it introduced Dave Nichol’s President’s Choice brand back in 1983. Now I think the company is greedy and dishonourable.
The current calls for a public boycott of its stores seem justified (”Month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned grocery brands and stores begins” – Online, May 1).
It’s been a gradual disdain for me, but it really took hold with Loblaw’s decision to eliminate the extra $2-an-hour pay for front-line workers during COVID. That extra amount lasted three months – despite the pandemic lasting at least three years – all while its profit continued to rise. And then there was the price-fixing on bread, where it admitted its role in artificially hiking the price of one of the basic staples in a family’s diet. And now we see the recent allegations by some pharmacists at its Shoppers Drug Mart unit that its corporate policies press them to meet prescription quotas, along with other questionable practices.
My mother started a meat boycott in Montreal in the 1970s because she believed the prices were being artificially hiked. People joined in the fight and it worked. Prices came down. It’s hard to imagine consumers having such an impact today with our supply of groceries concentrated in the hands of a few giants like Loblaw, whose worship of the profit motive seems to rise above any and all other concerns.
Diane Sewell Vancouver
Loblaw is a business, and therefore it’s in its interest to be profitable to continue operating. No business is in it to lose money or break even. They employ thousands of taxpaying Canadians and its success should be praised.
Both the Liberals and NDP, to deflect from their own shortcomings, have irresponsibly vilified the big chains and have even hinted at courting foreign companies to come and compete against our own Canadian companies. What a ludicrous notion. Where do you think these U.S. chains would be sending their profits back to?
As a former small-business owner I can tell you that the 5-per-cent margin that most grocery chains are making is far from ripping people off. Most businesses I know need to make a much higher margin to keep the doors open and make a reasonable living.
Rene Bergeron Cornwall, Ont.
Shareholders, including unions, institutions and insurance companies, and even the Canada Pension Plan and private investors, will be elated with Loblaw’s diligence and hard work. Per Bank, the grocer’s president and chief executive officer, says the profit increase will allow the company to expand, open more discount stores and attract more customers.
Loblaw employs more than 220,000 Canadians and thousands of new immigrants, paying good wages with decent job security. Canadians are not forced to shop at Loblaws. Loblaw and its associated companies have a 29-per-cent share of the Canadian market and the others among the big five grocers have about 50 per cent. Regional chains and independents take up the balance. It costs $5-million to $10-million to open up a new smaller grocery store and that may be in a rented space. With profit margins at 4 per cent or below, it is little wonder that there are few independents taking on the big boys.
Loblaw and the Weston family ownership run a fine business and we should be proud that our largest grocer is in Canadian hands.
Peter Kaufmann Winnipeg
Why is Loblaw being picked on for skyrocketing grocery prices when Empire and Metro are comparable in grocery prices or even higher. The government has tried to rein in grocers for lower prices but obviously it is not that simple. Perhaps the workers in the supply chain should all agree to lower their wage rate so the consumer can see a meaningful reduction in groceries.
I still am hoping that Ontario Premier Doug Ford will revive his Buck-a-Beer plan so I can come out from the Beer Store with a smile. But all that is forgotten and now we are bashing the major grocers for allegedly gouging the customers.
Anoop Khanna Waterloo, Ont.
We do have limited choice when it comes to grocery stores and pharmacies but there are some options. The Weston empire has been playing at groceries and sundries the way Andy Warhol described his approach to art – basically “whatever you can get away with.”
Surely Canadians know that Loblaws is a very expensive store. And Shoppers Drug Mart is outrageous. It’s simple. Walk across the street and save a few bucks. I wouldn’t suggest a boycott, I’d recommend changing brands.
Nigel Smith Toronto
Boycott doubleheader
This year’s miserable Toronto Blue Jays record seems to have had no effect on game attendance. Clearly, the renovated Rogers Centre is a major draw to fans and non-fans alike: It’s both a ballpark and a playground for young and old alike. If the game stinks, there are plenty of other stadium activities on which to focus (”Rogers Centre renos impress Blue Jays fans but how new field plays still a question” – Online, April 8).
Until real fans begin to boycott the Jays games to express their displeasure with the team, not much is going to change at the top. A precipitous drop in ticket sales might effect much-needed change.
What folks are being encouraged to do to Loblaw during May to express their concern about high food prices might be a strategy Jays fans could employ to reflect their concern about the quality of the baseball now being played at the Rogers Centre.
Douglas Parker Ottawa
Fighting for truth
Re ”St. Anne’s residential-school survivors are still fighting for the truth” (May 3): After reading about Edmund Metatawabin’s story of his eight years at St. Anne’s Indian Residential School and other first-hand accounts of residents at other schools on witnessblanket.ca, I am sickened.
Survivors of St. Anne’s have been trying to expose the truth to the Canadian public but they are hampered by federal lawyers who are sitting on thousands of documents, which include testimonies of abuse by some 700 residents. We owe it to all the former residents of St. Anne’s to reveal the truth before there are no survivors left.
Kaz Shikaze Mississauga
Thank you Tanya Talaga and The Globe and Mail for continuing to keep the horror of Canada’s residential schools in the news. The question is who is behind the disgusting behaviour of the Justice Department and why aren’t they being thrown out? The Indigenous community has suffered enough at the hands of the church and government. It’s time to act.
Malcolm Marcus Toronto
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