Premier Ford met with Loblaw CEO 1 day after dismissing grocery pricing legislation

Amid an affordability crisis and increasing costs at grocery stores, the Ontario NDP and Liberals tabled legislation and motions at Queen’s Park to restrict companies from using surveillance pricing to target customers, hoping to drive down prices for essential items.

The effort, however, was immediately dismissed by Premier Doug Ford, who suggested that type of government intervention would be considered “socialism.”

“I believe in capitalist society, free market, the market dictates,” Ford said on April 16 when asked directly whether his government would ban surveillance pricing in grocery stores in Ontario.

“If ABC grocery store wants to compete against the other one, that’s what the true driver is. Free and fair competition and let the market dictate on food prices.”

One day after Ford shot down the proposal, the premier had a one-on-one meeting with the CEO of Loblaw Companies, which owns Loblaws, No Frills, Real Canadian Superstore, Fortino’s and T&T Supermarket.

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According to the premier’s calendar, obtained by Global News through freedom of information laws, the meeting with Loblaw CEO Per Bank took place at Ford’s Etobicoke home on Friday, April 17, and was attended by a single staffer.

While the calendar doesn’t reveal the subject of the conversation, Bank registered to lobby the Ford government on a variety of subjects, including “policies and issues related to the retail sector” and “policies related to data and privacy.”

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The premier’s office didn’t answer a number of questions about the meeting, including whether surveillance pricing or leasing agreements were discussed and why the lunch hour meeting took place at Ford’s home.

“Premier Ford frequently meets with a number of businesses and stakeholders, including one of Canada’s largest employers and retailers,” the premier’s office said in a statement.

A statement from Loblaw said the company is “already on the record as not using surveillance pricing” and is pushing the grocery sector “to remove property controls.”

“As Canada’s largest private-sector employer, and a major employer in Ontario, we regularly meet with elected officials at all levels of government and across the political spectrum to discuss issues affecting our colleagues, our customers, our business and the communities we serve,” the company said in a statement.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the timing of the meeting – one day after Ford dismissed the idea of legally forbidding surveillance pricing – isn’t a coincidence.

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“We’d tabled a motion and asked the government to support the motion to stop predatory surveillance pricing and the Conservative government voted against our motion,” Stiles said.

“It is no surprise to me that Doug Ford is listening, as he always does, to the CEOs, to the CEO of Loblaws, because he’s clearly not listening to the people of Ontario. He is making a choice, and this is about choices.”

The effort to eliminate the practice of surveillance pricing began in Manitoba, where Premier Wab Kinew’s government tabled legislation to crack down on “the misuse of personal data to inflate prices.”

In mid-April, both opposition parties at Queen’s Park made identical attempts to introduce surveillance pricing laws in Ontario. The NDP went one step further and asked the legislature to “remove existing controls on real property that have the effect of limiting and controlling competition among food retailers.”

Neither bill received support from the Ford government.

At the same time, as Ford prepared to host the Loblaw CEO at his home for a 45-minute meeting, the premier said he was willing to target grocery store chains “if there’s collusion on pricing” but dismissed other interventions.

“There’s no better way of letting people get lower costs on no matter if it’s cars or homes or groceries than competition,” Ford said. “That’s a capitalist society. The other one is socialism. Socialism does not work.

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“You go around and dictating and overseeing every single price.”

Ford’s meeting with Bank was not publicized by the premier’s office, nor does it show up on Ford’s social media accounts.

Stiles said the private meeting is in line with how Ford conducts business.

“I think it’s one of the reasons why Doug Ford hides his cellphone records from the people because he doesn’t want people to know who he’s meeting with, who’s giving him the information, who he really serves,” Stiles said.