Organizers of a fast-growing boycott movement against Loblaw over high food prices say they are keenly aware they need to target more than just grocery stores to impact the mammoth corporation’s bottom line.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. is the parent company of nearly two-dozen store brands spread across food, pharmacies, fashion, beauty and financial services. The company says it operates over 2,400 stores across Canada, such as Shoppers Drug Mart, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills and more.
2:23 Consumers gear up for Loblaw boycott as petition for investigation gains traction
And its PC Financial products, which includes a bank account and credit cards linked to Loblaw’s PC Rewards system, serves roughly three million customers.
That vast network raises the challenge for the boycott movement starting in May, but those leading the charge say they are rising to it.
“I’m going to be closing my PC bank account,” said Emily Johnson, who created the Reddit group r/loblawsisoutofcontrol where the boycott began. “I’ve already moved all of my prescriptions to my local pharmacist as well.”
What else does Loblaw own?
Loblaw’s grocery division alone is expansive.
In addition to its namesake Loblaws grocery store and the aforementioned Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills, it also oversees Freshmart and its affiliates SuperValu, Shop Easy and Axep, Real Canadian Liquorstore.
The company also owns the Asian-focused T&T Supermarket, Zehrs, Valu-Mart, Provigo, No Name, Your Independent Grocer, City Market, Fortinos, Wholesale Club, Maxi, Extra Foods and Dominion Stores in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The company’s PC Express online delivery service serves all of those brands.
5:57 Loblaws boycott picks up steam as resentment grows online
Its Joe Fresh fashion brand operates stand-alone stores as well as departments inside Real Canadian Superstore.
Loblaw also has a partnership with Esso and Mobil gas stations that allows customers to earn and redeem PC Optimum points, although as of 2017 the company no longer owns any of those gas stations directly.
In 2014, Loblaw acquired Shoppers Drug Mart, which operates over 1,300 locations alone and is known as Pharmaprix in Quebec. That company also operates Wellwise home health care centres, Simply Pharmacy and MediSystem Pharmacy, The Health Clinic walk-in and family health services, and Specialty Health Network patient supports.
In 2022, Loblaw announced Shoppers would acquire the Lifemark group of physiotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic and rehabilitation clinics.
The company even operates a prepaid wireless cellular service, PC Mobile, that runs on the Bell network. Earlier this month, it announced a new low-cost plan under the No Name brand.
Loblaw also owns and operates Maple Leaf Gardens, the former home arena of the Toronto Maple Leafs, which now houses the Mattamy Athletic Centre. The facility is home to Toronto Metropolitan University’s athletic program and PWHL Toronto, as well as the flagship Loblaws store.
Choice Properties, Loblaw’s real estate investment trust, owns and operates business parks, shopping centres and mixed-use retail and residential properties across the country, many of which are anchored by its grocery stores. Some of its business clients include Dollarama and GoodLife Fitness.
How are consumers impacted?
Boycott organizers have already acknowledged many Canadians will be unable to participate, given the lack of alternatives for groceries and other services in some communities.
The r/loblawsisoutofcontrol page includes a link to AltGrocery.ca, which helps connect people to independent grocers in their community.
But the movement has also served as a reminder of how large Loblaw and other multi-faceted corporate grocers like Metro and Empire, which owns Sobeys and several other brands, have become.
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Richard Powers, an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, says those corporations have created an “economy of scale” that targets customer convenience, making it difficult for those customers to look elsewhere.
That has included setting up more stores in urban environments close to public transportation.
“Are people going to travel further to pick up the groceries or other services? That’s questionable,” he said in an interview. “I think this boycott will be short-lived.”
Loblaw has to keep looking for ways to provide value to keep people coming back, he said: “We don’t have a contract with our customers. They can choose to shop elsewhere tomorrow, if they don’t like the offer that we’re giving.”
Bank says he takes customer complaints personally, and if customers aren’t happy, “that’s something I want to fix.” He added that if one customer really dislikes Loblaw, “that’s one too many.”
6:22 Will the proposed Loblaw boycott reap any rewards?
Loblaw claims 90 per cent of Canadians live within 10 kilometres of one of its stores.
Despite its diverse portfolio, Loblaw still makes the majority of its revenue from its grocery stores. Its 2023 earnings report showed that out of the $58.3 billion in retail sales the company earned throughout 2023, $41.2 billion — 70 per cent — came from food retail.
Yet drug and pharmacy retail has routinely outpaced food sales in terms of year-over-year growth, which Loblaw has said is helping to drive its profits higher thanks to demand for cough and cold treatments and beauty products.
Loblaw said its PC Financial services brought in $1.54 billion last year, a 15 per cent increase from 2022. In the first quarter of 2024, revenue from those services grew 10.7 per cent from the same period last year.
By comparison, its retail revenues grew by 5.1 per cent year-over-year between 2022 and 2023, and 4.4 per cent from the first quarter of 2023 to the same period this year.
Wednesday’s first-quarter results showed profit available to common Loblaw shareholders increased almost 10 per cent year over year to $459 million, or $1.47 per diluted share.
Johnson points to a list posted to the Reddit page outlining the ways Canadians can show “solidarity” with the boycott movement if they can’t untangle themselves from Loblaw’s various services.
Chief among those alternatives is a template letter people can use to write their local member of Parliament and voice their anger over rising prices at corporate grocers.
Johnson says people can also donate food or money to their local food bank, and to share news and information about the boycott on social media to ensure the movement continues to grow.
“You might not be able to to boycott, but other folks in your circle may be able to, and that’s a big way of encouraging solidarity among Canadians,” she said.
OTTAWA – The New Democrats confirmed Thursday they won’t help Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives topple the government next week, and intend to join the Bloc Québécois in blocking the Tories’ non-confidence motion.
The planned votes from the Bloc and the New Democrats eliminate the possibility of a snap election, buying the Liberals more time to govern after a raucous start to the fall sitting of Parliament.
Poilievre issued a challenge to NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh earlier this week when he announced he will put forward a motion that simply states that the House has no confidence in the government or the prime minister.
If it were to pass, it would likely mean Canadians would be heading to the polls, but Singh said Thursday he’s not going to let Poilievre tell him what to do.
Voting against the Conservative motion doesn’t mean the NDP support the Liberals, said Singh, who pulled out of his political pact with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a few weeks ago.
“I stand by my words, Trudeau has let you down,” Singh said in the foyer outside of the House of Commons Thursday.
“Trudeau has let you down and does not deserve another chance.”
Canadians will have to make that choice at the ballot box, Singh said, but he will make a decision about whether to help trigger that election on a vote-by-vote basis in the House.
The Conservatives mocked the NDP during Question Period for saying they had “ripped up” the deal to support the Liberals, despite plans to vote to keep them in power.
Poilievre accused Singh of pretending to pull out of the deal to sway voters in a federal byelection in Winnipeg, where the NDP was defending its long-held seat against the Conservatives.
“Once the votes were counted, he betrayed them again. He’s a fake, a phoney and fraud. How can anyone ever believe what the sellout NDP leader says in the future?” Poilievre said during Question Period Thursday afternoon.
At some point after those comments, Singh stepped out from behind his desk in the House and a two-minute shouting match ensued between the two leaders and their MPs before the Speaker intervened.
Outside the House, Poilievre said he plans to put forward another non-confidence motion at the next opportunity.
“We want a carbon-tax election as soon as possible, so that we can axe Trudeau’s tax before he quadruples it to 61 cents a litre,” he said.
Liberal House leader Karina Gould says there is much work the government still needs to do, and that Singh has realized the consequences of potentially bringing down the government. She refused to take questions about whether her government will negotiate with opposition parties to ensure their support in future confidence motions.
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet hasn’t ruled out voting no-confidence in the government the next time a motion is tabled.
“I never support Liberals. Help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself,” Blanchet said Thursday.
“I support the interests of Quebecers, if those interests are also good for Canadians.”
A Bloc bill to increase pension cheques for seniors aged 65 to 74 is now at “the very centre of the survival of this government,” he said.
The Bloc needs a recommendation from a government minister to OK the cost and get the bill through the House.
The Bloc also wants to see more protections for supply management in the food sector in Canada and Quebec.
If the Liberals can’t deliver on those two things, they will fall, Blanchet said.
“This is what we call power,” he said.
Treasury Board President Anita Anand wouldn’t say whether the government would be willing to swallow the financial implications of the Bloc’s demands.
“We are focused at Treasury Board on ensuring prudent fiscal management,” she said Thursday.
“And at this time, our immediate focus is implementing the measures in budget 2024 that were announced earlier this year.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
OTTAWA – Treasury Board President Anita Anand has been sworn in as federal transport minister at a ceremony at Rideau Hall, taking over a portfolio left vacant after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet and the Liberal caucus on Thursday.
Anand thanked Rodriguez for his contributions to the government and the country, saying she’s grateful for his guidance and friendship.
She sidestepped a question about the message it sends to have him leave the federal Liberal fold.
“That is a decision that he made independently, and I wish him well,” she said.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was not present for the swearing-in ceremony, nor were any other members of the Liberal government.
The shakeup in cabinet comes just days after the Liberals lost a key seat in a Montreal byelection to the Bloc Québécois and amid renewed calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to step down and make way for a new leader.
Anand said she is not actively seeking leadership of the party, saying she is focused on her roles as minister and as MP.
“My view is that we are a team, and we are a team that has to keep delivering for our country,” she said.
The minority Liberal government is in a more challenging position in the House of Commons after the NDP ended a supply-and-confidence deal that provided parliamentary stability for more than two years.
Non-confidence votes are guaranteed to come from the Opposition Conservatives, who are eager to bring the government down.
On Thursday morning, Rodriguez made a symbolic walk over the Alexandra Bridge from Parliament Hill to Gatineau, Que., where he formally announced his plans to run for the Quebec Liberal party leadership.
He said he will now sit as an Independent member of Parliament, which will allow him to focus on his own priorities.
“I was defending the priorities of the government, and I did it in a very loyal way,” he said.
“It’s normal and it’s what I had to do. But now it’s more about my vision, the vision of the team that I’m building.”
Rodriguez said he will stay on as an MP until the Quebec Liberal leadership campaign officially launches in January.
He said that will “avoid a costly byelection a few weeks, or months, before a general election.”
The next federal election must be held by October 2025.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he will try to topple the government sooner than that, beginning with a non-confidence motion that is set to be debated Sept. 24 and voted on Sept. 25.
Poilievre has called on the NDP and the Bloc Québécois to support him, but both Jagmeet Singh and Yves-François Blanchet have said they will not support the Conservatives.
Rodriguez said he doesn’t want a federal election right away and will vote against the non-confidence motion.
As for how he would vote on other matters before the House of Commons, “it would depend on the votes.”
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, a non-cabinet role Rodriguez held since 2019.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees and Dylan Robertson
