Grocers and food manufacturers may not agree on everything, but they agree on this: their industry needs a code of conduct, and that code needs to have teeth.
Earlier this week, the steering committee tasked with proposing a code of conduct for Canada’s grocery industry sent ministers a progress report that calls for fair and timely dealings between grocers and food and beverage suppliers, which are currently dealing with rising tensions exacerbated by supply chain woes.
Michael Graydon, CEO of Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada and co-chair of the committee, said everyone — retailers, manufacturers and agricultural representatives in the group — agreed unanimously and early on that the code needs to be mandatory and enforceable. Graydon is hoping the code will help address the current imbalance of power caused by consolidation among the grocery retailers, as well as improve economic certainty and encourage international investment in the Canadian food industry.
He said he’s cautiously optimistic about where the code is headed, noting that while some in the industry have been calling for this for years, it wasn’t until the pandemic that widespread support made progress possible.Committee co-chair Diane J. Brisebois represents the Retail Council of Canada, on behalf of grocery retailers.
Gary Sands, senior vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and a member of the committee, said the consensus on the code being mandatory and enforceable “represents a major step forward.” The committee has looked to the United Kingdom for guidance, said Graydon, where a code of conduct has been in place for more than a decade. However, the retailers weren’t part of the creation of the U.K. code, he noted, while in Canada they have a seat at the table.
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