NDP agriculture critic says he’s not impressed by grocers’ plans to stabilize prices

New Democrat MP Alistair MacGregor says he has reviewed the major grocers’ plans to stabilize prices and he’s not impressed by what’s in them.

MacGregor, the NDP agriculture critic, spoke to reporters Monday afternoon ahead of a committee appearance by Michael Medline, the president and CEO of Empire Company Ltd., which owns Sobeys and other grocery store chains.

Medline’s appearance comes after the committee requested that the top execs of major grocers testify before the committee once again on their plans to stabilize prices.

Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne announced this fall that major companies, including Loblaw, Metro, Empire, Walmart and Costco, had shared plans to tackle rising prices that included discounts, price freezes and price-matching campaigns.

MacGregor said the grocers agreed to share the plans with members of the House of Commons agriculture committee and, in return, the committee promised to keep their contents confidential.

But the MP said the plans include a lot of information that is already public.

“I can tell you, after having reviewed the documents over the last couple of weeks, that I walked away quite unimpressed,” MacGregor said.

“And to tell you the truth, a lot of the information contained in these so-called confidential documents are stuff I could have found by reviewing their weekly flyers and looking with a simple Google search.”

The federal Liberals have faced heat from both the NDP and Conservatives over the rapid rise in grocery prices.

And while food inflation — a global post-pandemic phenomenon — has slowed in recent months, prices continue to rise rapidly.

In October, grocery prices were up 5.4 per cent compared to a year ago. Meanwhile, Canada’s overall inflation rate was 3.1 per cent.