‘Loblaws is gaslighting the entire country’: Canadians, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh furious after decision to end freeze of No Name prices

'We may be the face of food inflation, but we are certainly not the cause,' Loblaw contends

Abhya Adlakha
·Editor, Yahoo News Canada
Updated ·6 min read
‘Loblaws is gaslighting the entire country’: Canadians, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh furious after decision to end freeze of No Name prices

Several residents and ministers are calling out Canada's largest grocery retailer, Loblaws—yet again—for "profiteering" amid rising food prices after they announced an end to its price freeze on its popular generic house brand products.

On Tuesday, Loblaw Companies Ltd. confirmed an end to their price freeze on 'No Name' products and that they will no longer extend it any further.

Previously, as Canadians were faced with high prices at the supermarket due to inflation, Loblaws announced on Oct. 17, 2022 that it was freezing the prices of its in-house brand until Jan. 31, 2023.

In a statement, a Loblaw spokesperson said that although the prize freeze ends on Jan. 31, "we're not done".

RELATED from Yahoo Finance Canada: Loblaw is ending its price freeze on No Name products

"Looking ahead, we’ll continue to hold those prices flat wherever possible, and switching to No Name will still save the average family thousands this year," they said.

In early January, Statistics Canada reported that grocery prices were up 11 per cent in December compared with a year ago. Meanwhile, grocery prices in the country were up 9.8 per cent overall last year. Even though Canada is showing signs of overall inflation slowing down, consumers are still being hit hard by climbing grocery store prices.

Shortly after the announcement, many disgruntled residents took to Twitter to express their disappointment and anger at Loblaws' latest controversial actions.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh also called out Loblaws on Twitter for controlling grocery store prices.

"The Loblaws price freeze shows that the grocery stores control the price you pay. Left on their own, CEOs won't help you out with the cost of living. Neither will their friends in Liberal/Conservative govts. Let's make wealthy CEOs pay what they owe. So Cdns stop paying the price," he wrote on Twitter.

Loblaw goes on spree to defend itself against the end of its No Name price freeze

In a strange turn of events, since many consumers took to Twitter to express their frustration, the supermarket chain's social media team decided to defend its controversial business decisions.

Their social media account has been directly responding to the criticism, and are attempting to explain its position.

In one such response, the grocery chain wrote, "we froze prices when costs continued to climb. We took a stand on the price freeze because we knew that the price of food was a huge concern for many Canadians."

In another response, the company wrote that while they may be the "face of food inflation", they are not the "cause".

"While we may be the face of food inflation but we are certainly not the cause. Food prices are higher in our stores simply because the manufacturers who make the products are charging more for them," the tweet read.

Although the organization is claiming that they're facing higher vendor costs and dealing with supply chain issues, Loblaw Companies Ltd. actually made a 30.8 per cent profit in the third quarter of 2022, compared to Q3 in 2021.

"Spare us the bullsh**ry": Residents enraged at Loblaws

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