Mr. Speaker, I would like to present a petition on behalf of over 17,000 Canadians who are demanding economic justice and ensuring that profiteering in the grocery sector is truly held to account.
The petitioners say that Loblaws currently owns a grocery store within 10 kilometres of 90% of all Canadians, has posted record profits while Canadians struggle to eat, has monopolized the basic necessities that Canadians rely on and has introduced a price freeze but has failed to live up to that promise. The petitioners note that the price of food is rising in Canada and more Canadians are relying on food banks to get food for their families, and that in the middle of the pandemic, Loblaws cut its pandemic pay for workers.
Therefore, the undersigned 17,000 Canadians are asking that we open a parliamentary investigation into Loblaws for its pandemic profiteering, greedflation and continued price gouging of Canadians; open an investigation into the monopolization of Canadian grocery stores; and create legislation to prevent this from occurring again.