After two years of work, the group responsible for developing the grocery code of conduct says its launch is being held back by a lack of support from two major grocers.
“We’re at an impasse,” said Michael Graydon, CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada association and chairman of the interim board for the code.
The board sent a progress report to the federal, territorial and provincial agriculture ministers on Wednesday.
“There is a concern that without the full participation of all major grocers, the implementation of the Code would create an unlevel playing field and put affected stakeholders at a competitive disadvantage,” the report reads.
Without the support of all major grocers, the interim board said it can’t proceed in implementing the required steps to launch the code.
“What we’re faced with now is no consensus and a failure to achieve what industry has told us they would achieve without government intervention. To say this is disappointing would be an understatement,” said federal Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay in an emailed statement on Wednesday evening.
The code was always intended to be industry-led, but the industry has “failed to meet the moment,” he said.
“We’re actively examining all available federal options _ that includes legislation,” added MacAulay.
“I’ve also met with my colleague, (federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne), and his provincial and territorial counterparts. As key aspects of the Code would fall under provincial jurisdiction, we asked them to do the same.”
The interim board has paused its efforts to hire an adjudicator for the code as a result of Loblaw and Walmart being unwilling to sign on, and can’t start recruiting official memberships either, said Graydon. Despite having “virtually the entire supply chain” in agreement, without the two biggest players on board, other companies won’t want to agree to rules that could disadvantage them, he said.
“The code is designed to fundamentally change the behaviour of the large retailers. If they’re not in, then the behaviour doesn’t change. There’s no need…
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