Grocery store CEOs will face questions on food prices at Commons committee today

OTTAWA — The CEOs of Canada’s largest grocery store chains will be before a parliamentary committee today to answer questions about the rapid rise in food prices. 

The CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc. and Empire Co. Ltd. — which operates chains including Sobeys, Safeway and FreshCo — are set to testify before the House of Commons agriculture committee this evening as part of its study on food inflation.

Food inflation has been especially crushing for lower-income Canadians, with grocery prices in January up 11.4 per cent compared to a year ago.

That’s nearly double the overall rate of inflation, which was 5.9 per cent that month.