Planned month-long Loblaw boycott begins today

Also starting today, Loblaw could be facing a boycott. An online campaign targeting the company has really been gaining steam. And Scott, as of today, the message is out shop elsewhere for the month of May. Yeah, some pretty strong language from from blah, blah or from from obviously the petitions here and the boycotts and the potential boycotts. It’s one of The thing is for sure it’s drawing attention to the supply chain in Canada and how few companies control that supply chain, including La Blah, which is the leader. Up to about 1/3 of of that is, is under Loblaw’s jurisdiction. But let’s take a look at some of these examples as far as what the boycotts are and what they’re calling for. Out there. Here’s one example. Boycott Loblaws for the month of May #loblaws is out of control. They have 60,000 signatures now, and they list the Loblaw Group of Companies, Real Canadian Superstore, No Frills for Tino’s, Value Mart, Shoppers Drug Mart. And here’s another petition board as well. Boycott Loblaws and affiliated stores and they have a list of demands on this one. Sign a grocery code of conduct, for example. No more price increases for the year and no further increases in dividends for shareholders, which is a pretty tall demand. There’s also other calls for for boycotts as well as Change.org. 105,000 signatures. They points out that the profit the grocery companies are making since the pandemic and also pointing out the salaries of individual CEO’s and founders like Galen Weston. And so there’s a lot of movement here. Heather behind the scenes and we’ll see what happens today as this boycott gets going. Any official response from the company? Well, one Loblaws, the CEO per bank, is saying that they’re doing everything they can to keep prices under control. They’re trying to to, to assure Canadians that they’re doing what they can. But clearly they’re watching this very carefully. Also, there’s a broader industry response from Dalhousie Food professional Civil. And, and this is what he says in general, as far as you know, trying to focus what this, this boycott is about. Saying. If the goal truly is to enhance forward affordability, the boycott should encompass all major box stores, not just focus on one company. Moreover, to truly address the issue at hand, the movement should support independent grocers who compete against these large players without any substantial banking. But one thing is clear, there’s growing frustration with the food industry with a high the sky, high food prices, And another thing this is. Clearly going to be a black eye for Loblaw and the group of companies which literally moments ago as you were walking into the studio released its Q1 results, another quarter of strong operational and financial results, Scott. Yeah, the receipt pretty much revenues and profits up about 4 to 5% across the board. We’re seeing revenue of 13 1/2 billion dollars in the first quarter, operating income up 12% to 861 million. So this will be added fuel to the fire if you will for these boycott efforts.