An online movement to boycott Loblaws is coming to Victoria as people are spreading the word of their struggles to pay for groceries.
President and CEO of Loblaw Companies Limited Galen Weston Jr. has been at the centre of several scandals over the past few years, including being found guilty of price gouging customers on bread.
Most recently, in 2023, Weston Jr. and the CEOs of a few other companies were summoned to the House of Commons regarding the inflation of food prices.
According to Statistics Canada, most food increased by between 5% and 7% year-over-year in 2023 and this year, costs are projected to increase by a margin of 2.5% and 4.5%.
In the House of Commons, Weston Jr. told lawmakers that his company earned $2.66 billion before taxes. His salary in 2022 alone was $11.7 million when his earnings from Loblaw and George Weston Ltd. are combined.
Lately, people online have been sharing unusually high prices of household items from Loblaw-owned stores and starting the movement “Loblaws is out of control.”
The online call for a boycott urges people in Victoria and across Canada to stop going to Weston Jr.-owned stores for the entire month of May, although some people have been saying they are beginning to boycott his companies right away.
Loblaw Companies Limited owns and operates the following stores:
Real Canadian Superstore, Wholesale Club, T&T, Shoppers Drug Mart, No Frills, Joe Fresh, President’s Choice Financial, No Name, Zehr’s, Independant, Valu-Mart and Life, among other local banners and smaller brands with products that are sold in his stores.
In Greater Victoria there is just one Real Canadian Superstore out in Langford and there is just one Wholesale Club located in Esquimalt, however there are 10 Shoppers Drug Marts in the region.
Weston Jr. controls around 30% of the grocery market in Canada, and when combined with his other competitors who were also called in by the House of Commons to explain their pricing and profits, they represented over 60% of the market.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal NDP has been pushing for the government to regulate the way food is priced to help Canadians afford groceries, but he has been getting some pushback from the Conservatives and Liberals on the issue.
Will you be joining the boycott? How do you navigate grocery shopping to be able to afford putting food on the table?
Let us know in the comments.
