Ever wonder how bread got to be over three dollars a loaf in Canada? We are one of the world's biggest exporters of grain. You would think bread, of all things, would be cheap in the demented dominion.
I always wondered about it. Well today I have an answer: corruption.A woman from Elliot Lake, Ont. has filed a $1 billion class-action lawsuit against Loblaw Companies Ltd. after the company revealed it participated in industry-wide price-fixing of bread for 14 years.
Irene Breckon, a senior citizen and anti-poverty activist, is the lead plaintiff in the case on behalf of all Canadians who purchased bread at the grocery chain's stores beginning in January 2001.
Breckon is being represented by Toronto-based law firm Sotos LLP. The suit also names George Weston Ltd., Canada Bread Company and Walmart Canada Corp. among the defendants.
There's not much in the article, but what there is I have to say is damning. 14 years of industry-wide price fixing. Producers AND retailers. The sheer gall of it takes one's breath away. They are literally taking food out of people's mouths.
That's...astounding. Disgusting. And, even if not the intent, it's evil, given it's hit the people least able to afford food in one of the staples.
ReplyDeleteAnd inevitably leads to, "If this has been industry accepted practice for 14 years, what ELSE have they done?"