- cross-posted to:
- canada@lemmy.ca
- canada@lemmy.ca
Canada’s grocery business is controlled by large players and needs government assistance to encourage new entrants to bring down prices, a report from Canada’s Competition Bureau says.
- juusukun ( @juusukun@lemmy.ca ) 36•1 year ago
In other news, water is wet!
We used to have laws and regulations in place for stuff like this, same with the USA. As years passed they lost their teeth
- Thalestr ( @Thalestr@beehaw.org ) 18•1 year ago
Canada’s regulatory agencies feel so incredibly spineless. So many industries here are unchecked oligopolies with skyrocketing prices.
My American friends are jawdropped when I tell them how much food, internet, and cell plans cost here.
- Cyborganism ( @cyborganism@lemmy.ca ) 7•1 year ago
The people in charge… They’re all bought and paid for. That’s why.
- likelytrash ( @likelytrash@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 year ago
Regulatory capture is a common theme regardless of industry here
- Cyborganism ( @cyborganism@lemmy.ca ) 2•1 year ago
Right???
- Thalestr ( @Thalestr@beehaw.org ) 1•1 year ago
Exactly.
- Tigbitties ( @Tigbitties@kbin.social ) 17•1 year ago
You don’t get to have teeth when you’re sucking at the teets.
- Erk ( @Erk@cdda.social ) 7•1 year ago
This was very snappily phrased and made me snort my drink, well done my friend.
- IninewCrow ( @ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 year ago
You lose all your teeth if all you’re eating is cookies, candy and Coca Cola everyday. Our economy is basically a toothless overweight diabetic
- likelytrash ( @likelytrash@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 year ago
Except it’s not even as diverse as cookies, candy and cola. It’s just real estate all the way down.
they lost their teeth
A lot of root canals championed by neo-liberalism.
- CoffeeBot ( @CoffeeBot@lemmy.ca ) English31•1 year ago
The Weston’s own most of the pharmacy, the grocery, food supply chain, and are moving into healthcare at breakneck pace. No shit it’s too concentrated. We need actual antitrust laws.
- enragedchowder ( @enragedchowder@lemmy.ca ) English17•1 year ago
Sadly it doesn’t matter if we have antitrust laws or not when no one is willing to enforce them.
- Storksforlegs ( @storksforlegs@beehaw.org ) English6•1 year ago
It does matter, we just need to put more public pressure on them.
- Erk ( @Erk@cdda.social ) English8•1 year ago
I hope “public pressure” is euphemistic for things a little more, erm, firm than “write angry articles on cbc”
- OminousOrange ( @OminousOrange@lemmy.ca ) English6•1 year ago
There was so much pressure on the Shawgers buyout, the Competition Bureau was overwhelmed. Yet, here we are.
- SheerDumbLuck ( @SheerDumbLuck@lemmy.ca ) English4•1 year ago
They also own real estate under Choice Properties.
- Rob Bos ( @rbos@lemmy.ca ) 31•1 year ago
Much cheaper to break up the monopolies and change the system to prevent them forming in the first place. Subsidizing new entrants without changing the environment that creates monopolies will just feed the beasts with fresh meat.
- Rising5315 ( @Rising5315@kbin.social ) 14•1 year ago
Break up the Weston vertical monopoly and watch how fast the rest starts evening out.
- yaygya ( @yaygya@fedia.io ) 13•1 year ago
Basically what happened in the mobile space. I’m 2008 CRTC had an AWS spectrum auction for new entrants in the wireless industry, namely Mobilicity, Public Mobile, and WIND Mobile. Public was bought out by Telus. Mobilicity was bought by Rogers and merged with Chatr. WIND hung out longer and became Freedom under Shaw, but of course Shawgers happened, so we’re back to square one.
- Jamil ( @Jamil@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 year ago
Don’t forget that these telecom companies are also media companies, owning channels like CityTV, Global, CTV, Corus. They also control the news grandma and grandpa see on the 6pm news.
- lightrush ( @lightrush@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 year ago
Freedom is under Quebecor now. Not great not terrible. Quebecor is much smaller outside of QC so they keep competing for now.
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 1•1 year ago
US telecoms went through something similar with the breakup of the Bell company. Many of the resulting “Baby Bells” reassembled themselves like the T-1000 into a handful of colossal telecom companies, and most of those companies don’t compete in each other’s territories, forming regional monopolies. All kinds of illegal, of course, but the government has yet to take any further action.
- Cyborganism ( @cyborganism@lemmy.ca ) 3•1 year ago
Exactly. The big corps will just buy the new players and everything will go back to the way it was.
This government has no vision.
- SpaceCowboy ( @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca ) 23•1 year ago
“Yeah, no shit” every Canadian says.
- KingPyrox ( @KingPyrox@lemmy.ca ) 21•1 year ago
5 companies for food is not enough competition but somehow 3 telecom providers is 🤔
- RandAlThor ( @RandAlThor@lemmy.ca ) 16•1 year ago
No crap! Duhhh. Finally competition bureau is doing some of their home work. And new entrant encouragement isn’t the only action that’s available. And that’s not the only sector that’s been consolidated either. Someone needs to kick the behind of these bureaucrats.
- AssaultPepper ( @AssaultPepper@kbin.social ) 3•1 year ago
Are there any trackers on what they or the CRTC have done? It’d be nice to hold them accountable for not just saying things but actually doing things.
- LostWon ( @LostWon@lemmy.ca ) 2•1 year ago
I tried to see if Open Media has something, but looks like it’s just the campaigns: https://openmedia.org/campaigns
There was a campaign a year ago about telecom monopoly practices, but it’s now closed: https://openmedia.org/press/item/over-28000-petition-signers-call-for-end-to-canadas-telecom-monopoly
- iAmTheTot ( @iAmTheTot@kbin.social ) 10•1 year ago
We just let Roger’s buy Shaw, I doubt anything will change.
- AlternateRoute ( @AlternateRoute@lemmy.ca ) 8•1 year ago
Don’t see how this will work? Walmart entered Canada many years ago and does groceries yet pricing all settled out. If Walmart isn’t driving competition and pricing down what will?
- LostWon ( @LostWon@lemmy.ca ) 9•1 year ago
I’ve seen a couple of (very limited) examples of restaurants using their contracts with suppliers to open small local grocery stores near their restaurants, that undercut the big grocery chains. If anything was possible, I’d prefer more local neighbourhood stores for packaged foods and community garden co-ops combined with farmer’s markets for fresh foods.
- oneofthemladygoats ( @oneofthemladygoats@lemmy.ca ) 3•1 year ago
The Lufa model needs to spread across the country
- Storksforlegs ( @storksforlegs@beehaw.org ) 5•1 year ago
I dont know, more competitors would still be better.
Ive seen my local no frills lower prices to match Walmart sales.
- gifferqqq ( @gifferqqq@kbin.social ) 4•1 year ago
There aren’t that many Wallmarts relative to grocery stores and they also aren’t usually in the same areas that people do grocery shopping, so I don’t think they are a significant competition.
- zephyreks ( @zephyreks@lemmy.ca ) 5•1 year ago
No way! People should go shop at ethnic grocers, if only to break up the monopoly.
- tendou ( @tendou@lemmy.ca ) 4•1 year ago
So many small store are close becuase don’t want to take the covid fund because language barrer, store rent are go to sky because the building owner think the store can earn 70% like 17 years ago. The item get from the distubutor is already x3 the price sold on big store and the customer complain is too expensive, look at those big store, they are only $ and you sell $$.
- tendou ( @tendou@lemmy.ca ) 2•1 year ago
oh! And sometime the item is distrubute by those big store, because sometime they will telephone the store, do you want to sell fruit… so nothing can do at the small store part.