Indigenous group finds 751 unmarked graves at former residential school in Saskatchewan

TORONTO, Ohio – Maple Leaf Foods asserted its innocence in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme ahead of a hearing to determine whether it will be added to an ongoing class-action lawsuit.

In a statement Wednesday, Maple Leaf said any claims that it participated in the alleged conspiracy are false.

“As we’ve said before, Maple Leaf Foods has done nothing wrong here,” the company said on its website.

When the class-action lawsuit was originally certified in an Ontario court in 2021 against several grocery retailers and other food companies, Maple Leaf was not included.

However, the plaintiffs are set to argue in a hearing scheduled on Thursday that Maple Leaf should be added as a defendant in the lawsuit because of its ownership of Canada Bread at the time of the alleged conspiracy.

Canada Bread was fined $50 million by the Competition Bureau in 2023 after admitting to four counts of price-fixing, but has argued as part of the class-action lawsuit that Maple Leaf, which was its majority owner at the time, should shoulder the blame instead.

“Based on additional evidence produced to us as result of Canada Bread’s guilty plea, we allege that Michael McCain and Maple Leaf Foods were personally involved in this conspiracy to defraud Canadian consumers and we believe they should be subject to the same scrutiny as the other defendants in this case,” said Jay Strosberg, managing partner at Strosberg Wingfield Sasso LLP, in an emailed statement.

McCain, the previous CEO of Maple Leaf and now the company’s executive chairman, previously denied involvement in the alleged conspiracy.

“We continue to believe that the pricing practices of Canada Bread were responsible, consistent with industry practice, and above all, lawful,” he said in a statement on the company’s website in August 2023.

In recently filed court documents, Canada Bread accused Maple Leaf of using it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged price-fixing scheme. Maple Leaf was Canada Bread’s controlling shareholder until it was purchased by Grupo Bimbo in 2014.

Canada Bread argued Maple Leaf knew or ought to have known of any anti-competitive conduct, making it “vicariously and contractually liable.”

Maple Leaf, which has denied the accusations, said in its Wednesday statement that Canada Bread is trying to set itself up to recover damages. It said it will vigorously defend itself against what it called unfounded claims.

The class-action lawsuit is one of two launched in the wake of an ongoing Competition Bureau investigation into an alleged industry-wide conspiracy to fix the price of bread.

The bureau began investigating the alleged scheme in 2016 and has alleged at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread over a period of 16 years.

Loblaw and Weston Foods, both subsidiaries of George Weston at the time, had admitted to participating in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” and received immunity from prosecution in exchange for co-operating.

However, other grocers and food companies have denied participating in such an arrangement, with Metro recently arguing in court documents that Loblaw and its parent company George Weston were trying to spread blame across the industry. Loblaw denied the claims by Metro.

Recently, Loblaw and George Weston announced they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle the two class-action lawsuits in Ontario and Quebec.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.

The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.

The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.

Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.

Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.

Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GOOS)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

SHERBROOKE, Que. – A senior Bank of Canada official says the central bank must be rigorous and transparent in order to maintain the public’s trust.

In a speech in Sherbrooke, Que. explaining the bank’s rate-setting process, Nicolas Vincent, the bank’s external deputy governor and a professor at HEC Montreal, said communicating how interest rate decisions are reached is almost as important as the decision process itself.

He said when the bank cut its key interest rate in July, it said that downside risks to inflation were becoming increasingly important in the deliberations by the governing council, but the message was misunderstood by some.

“Some people interpreted this to mean that we believed downside risks had strengthened,” Vincent said in prepared remarks Thursday.

“What we intended to communicate, however, was that, with the two-per-cent target in sight, we gave increased consideration to the risk that inflation could fall below the target.”

He said the differences in interpretation can be very subtle, which makes choosing the right words all the more important.

The Bank of Canada cut its key interest rate earlier this month for the third time this year to bring it to 4.25 per cent.

The Bank of Canada’s governing council makes its interest rate decisions by consensus, unlike other central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve and Bank of England, where members vote.

Vincent said it’s normal that members of the Bank of Canada’s governing council have differences of opinion, but the diversity of experience helps the group have constructive discussions.

“I should also mention that reaching a consensus does not mean that all members of governing council share the same point of view on the economic outlook or the path for interest rates in the coming months,” he said.

“It means that members come to an agreement about the best decision to make at a particular moment in time.”

Vincent was appointed as an external, non-executive deputy governor for a two-year term last year in a bid to help bring diverse perspectives to the central bank’s consensus-based policy-making process.

The central bank’s next interest rate decision is scheduled for Oct. 23, when it will also release its updated economic forecasts in its monetary policy report.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.

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