You could get a $25 Loblaw gift card out of the bread-price-fixing scandal
George Weston Ltd. and Loblaws revealed last week that both they participated in an industry-wide bread price-fixing arrangement for over a decade, but will receive immunity after tipping off Canada’s competition watchdog.
Loblaw is offering eligible customers who register online at LoblawCard.ca before May, a $25 gift card that can be used at its grocery stores across Canada.
Registration will open January 8 and spokesman Kevin Groh said customers will have to declare they are at or above the age of majority and purchased certain packaged products bread products at an eligible banner store before March 1, 2015.
In addition to Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, Wal-Mart and Giant Tiger are under investigation by the board.
Still with the story, Irene Brockton, a resident of Elliot Lake and an anti-poverty activist, has started a proposed class action in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice seeking $1 billion in damages on behalf of all Canadian purchasers of bread and other packaged baked goods.
Brockton says people living on fixed incomes or otherwise living hand to mouth can least afford to pay inflated prices.
It is unconscionable for big and wealthy corporations to manipulate the price of bread, she added.
Brockton says she started this lawsuit to make sure this money is returned to consumers.