For anti-poverty activist Irene Breckon, it doesn’t make sense: the federal government will pocket the entire $50-million fine Canada Bread must pay for price-fixing.
“I’m glad they’re being penalized, but I really don’t want the government to have that money,” said Breckon, of Elliot Lake, Ont.
“That $50 million should be distributed to the people. Food prices are still high,” she said, referring to the fact that over the past year, grocery prices have increased nine per cent. Bakery products have jumped 15 per cent.
Retailers factor in the wholesale price when determining how much to charge customers.
Anti-poverty activist Irene Breckon of Elliot Lake says the $50 million penalty to be paid by Canada Bread should be returned to consumers. (CBC)
The Competition Bureau said the guilty plea is a significant development in its more than seven-year investigation into an alleged industry-wide bread price-fixing scheme.
“[It’s a] very serious crime,” said Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell in an interview on Friday. “Bread, as we all know, is a staple of the Canadian diet.”
Nevertheless, the $50-million fine will go into the federal government’s general revenue pool. Although that money will be used for government services, many Canadians want to know why it’s not going directly to them — the folks who bought the overpriced bread.
“When a company does something wrong, they should give back to the people who they wronged,” said shopper Chris Mrkonjic, outside a Toronto grocery store.
But competition law expert Jennifer Quaid said the main purpose of criminal prosecutions is to punish bad actors, not dole out compensation.
“It’s the exception rather than the rule,” she said, adding that it would be difficult to identify the victims in a years-old bread price-fixing scheme.
“People don’t keep their receipts,” said Quaid, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. “I really don’t think that it would be practical in this case at all to imagine that we would use the criminal law system for this.”
Donate the money to charity?
CBC News heard from several people, including Alex Vanderzand, of Pickering, Ont., who suggested the $50 million could easily be donated to food banks. Some of them are struggling to keep up with rising demand fuelled by high food inflation.
“This money could help them stock their shelves and get it back out to people who really need it,” said Vanderzand.
Canada Bread must pay a $50 million fine for being part of a scheme to fix the price of bread in Canada over 14 years. It’s the highest fine the Competition Bureau has ever levied. Andrew Chang explains how the scheme worked, and why this may only be the beginning.
CBC News found several Competition Bureau deceptive marketing investigations where companies had to make donations to designated charities as part of their settlements.
In the latest case last year, coffee machine maker Keurig Canada agreed to pay a $3-million penalty and donate $800,000 to an environmental charity for making false or misleading claims that its single-use coffee pods can be recycled.
But the Competition Bureau said the donation requirements were part of civil cases where the agency was able to negotiate a settlement. Because price-fixing is a criminal offence, federal prosecutors negotiated Canada Bread’s settlement. The Public Prosecution Service of Canada declined to comment on the agreement.
The Competition Bureau said that Canadians searching for compensation can pursue civil litigation. Currently, two class-action lawsuits, one in Ontario and one in Quebec are seeking cash for bread shoppers from Canada Bread and other companies allegedly involved in the price-fixing scandal.
Those cases could be tied up in the courts for years.
Why $50 million?
Along with protesting who gets the cash, some Canadians have questioned why Canada Bread’s fine wasn’t higher.
In a statement of agreed facts in the case, the company’s annual sales for fresh bakery products totalled $945.9 million in 2007, and $1.087 billion in 2011. Those are the same years the price-fixing occurred.
“A $50-million fine is nothing to them,” said Michelle Engert of Vancouver, who complained about the amount on Facebook shortly after the news broke.
“How can they get a little slap on the wrist?” she said in an interview. “Because this is a serious criminal offence.”
Canada Bread’s fine is actually the highest price-fixing penalty in Canadian legal history. In fact, Canada Bread received the maximum fine possible for four counts of price-fixing (totalling $70 million), but got a 30 per cent “leniency reduction” for the company’s co-operation.
“I think it’s appropriate to have a lot more flexibility in the amount,” said Quaid, the competition law expert. “It makes sense in the context of competition law where the amount of money involved can be very big.”
Competition law expert Jennifer Quaid said the main purpose of criminal prosecutions is to punish bad actors, not dole out compensation. (Jean-François Benoit/CBC)
The Competition Bureau is still investigating grocers Sobeys, Walmart and Giant Tiger, as well as wholesaler Maple Leaf Foods for allegedly taking part in the bread price-fixing scheme which ran from 2001 to 2015.
Maple Leaf Foods was the majority owner of Canada Bread until it was sold to Mexican multinational Grupo Bimbo in 2014. Grupo Bimbo says it didn’t learn about Canada Bread’s involvement in the conspiracy until 2017.
Quaid said if any other companies are found guilty of participating in the price-fixing scheme, any fines they face will still be capped, because the violations would have occurred before the limit was lifted.
MILAN (AP) — Bologna’s preparations for its Champions League debut are not going well though it managed to spoil Como’s first Serie A home match in 21 years on Saturday.
Bologna came from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw to gather three points from its opening four matches.
Bologna hosts Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday. Its only other appearance in Europe’s top competition was in 1964 in the preliminary round of the old European Cup.
AC Milan is also winless as it prepares for a Tuesday Champions League match against Liverpool. The Rossoneri hosted promoted Venezia later. Juventus drew at Empoli 0-0.
Como made a great start in the fifth minute when Patrick Cutrone attempted to roll the ball across the six-yard box but it took a huge deflection off Bologna defender Nicolò Casale for an own goal.
Bologna thought it was gifted a way back into the match on the stroke of halftime when referee Marco Piccinini signalled for a penalty following an Alberto Moreno handball, but he revoked his decision and instead gave a free kick because the handball was just outside the area.
Bologna improved after the break but found itself further behind when Cutrone raced onto a through ball and cut inside past a defender and fired into the far bottom corner.
Tommaso Pobega hit the post for Bologna, which finally pulled one back in the 76th through substitute Santiago Castro.
Another substitute helped the visitors snatch a point when Samuel Iling-Junior curled a fine strike into the top left corner in stoppage time.
Unbeaten sides
Juventus, and more surprisingly Empoli, are among six unbeaten sides.
Empoli held Monza and Bologna to draws either side of a shock 2-1 win at Roma. Juventus’ perfect start to the season was ruined by Roma in a goalless draw before the international break.
On Saturday, there were few clearcut chances in Empoli although home goalkeeper Devis Vásquez made spectacular saves to fingertip out a Federico Gatti header and deny Dusan Vlahovic in a one on one with the Juventus forward.
Empoli had a good opportunity in the 73rd minute following an Alberto Grassi one-two with Pietro Pellegri but the finish was straight at Mattia Perin.
The host could have won it right at the death but Gatti flew in with a great sliding block to keep out Emanuel Gyasi’s close-range effort.
Juventus hosts PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Tuesday.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Not good enough. That was Arne Slot’s verdict after his first defeat as Liverpool manager on Saturday.
A shock 1-0 loss at home to Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League ended Slot’s perfect record since succeeding Jurgen Klopp at Anfield at the end of last season.
“We had a lot of ball possession but only managed to create three (or) four quite good chances, so that is by far not enough if you have so much ball possession,” said the Dutchman, who suggested his team should not be losing to the likes of Forest.
“If you lose a home game it’s always a setback, especially if you face a team … we never know, maybe they will go all the way to fight for Champions League tickets, but normally this team is not ending up in the top 10, so if you lose a game against them that’s a big disappointment.”
Slot won his first three games in charge, including a memorable 3-0 victory against Manchester United before the international break.
But that run came to an end after Callum Hudson-Odoi struck in the 72nd with a curling effort from the edge of the box and beyond goalkeeper Alisson.
Liverpool’s defeat leaves Manchester City as the only team with a 100% record in the league after a 2-1 win against Brentford kept the defending champion at the top of the table.
United won at Southampton 3-0 to end its two-game losing streak.
Unstoppable Haaland
Erling Haaland moved to 99 goals for City after scoring twice against Brentford.
The Norwegian’s double came after Yoane Wissa fired Brentford ahead with just 22 seconds on the clock.
Haaland scored his 98th and 99th goals in his 103rd City appearance in all competitions. And he was the width of the post away from his third consecutive hat trick after trebles against Ipswich and West Ham.
“He’s been really, really good. Yeah, I would say he’s the best (he’s been), but it’s only four fixtures (this season),” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Haaland, who has been nominated for the Ballon d’Or, has nine goals in four league games. He has topped the league scoring charts in each of his two seasons at City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022 for $63 million.
Haaland’s first goal after 19 minutes evened the game following Wissa’s opener, which stunned the Etihad Stadium crowd. Haaland turned and swept a shot past goalkeeper Mark Flekken after a slight deflection off Ethan Pinnock.
He was then too strong for Pinnock when shaking off the defender and running through for his second in the 32nd.
He was inches away in the 81st; the shot came back off the post after beating the keeper.
Rashford snaps run
Marcus Rashford snapped a 12-game barren run in front of goal as United beat Southampton.
Rashford doubled United’s lead at Saint Mary’s after Matthijs de Ligt’s scored his first for the club. Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The win came after back-to-back defeats for United.
Rashford hadn’t scored since March in United’s win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarterfinals. He curled in a shot from the edge of the area to put Erik ten Hag’s team 2-0 up at Southampton in the 41st minute.
Ten Hag said it could be a turning point for the forward.
“For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Like a ketchup bottle, once it’s going, it’s coming more,” he said.
De Ligt, who joined United from Bayern Munich in the offseason, headed in from Bruno Fernandes’ cross in the 35th.
It could have been a different story if Cameron Archer converted a penalty for Southampton in the 33rd. Instead, his effort was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Newly promoted Southampton was reduced to 10 men when Jack Stephens was sent off in the 79th for a high challenge on Garnacho.
Villa comeback
After three straight defeats to start the league, Everton looked set for its first win when leading Aston Villa 2-0.
Goals from Dwight McNeil and Dominic Calvert-Lewin put Sean Dyche’s team in control until Ollie Watkins struck twice to even the game.
Jhon Duran completed Villa’s comeback and sealed a 3-2 win in the 76th to leave Everton rooted to the bottom of the table and the only top flight team without a point.
Late drama
Jean-Philippe Mateta converted a stoppage time penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw for Crystal Palace against Leicester.
Leicester led 2-0 at Selhurst Park after goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.
But Mateta sparked Palace’s response with a goal in the 47th, a minute after Mavididi doubled Leicester’s advantage.
Conor Coady fouled Ismaili Sarr in the box right near fulltime and Mateta was cool enough to convert.
West Ham left it even later to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw at Fulham.
Danny Ings struck in the fifth minute of added time after Raul Jimenez’s goal looked like earning Fulham the win.
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler, the manager of the month for August, was frustrated as his team was held to 0-0 at home by Ipswich.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
