A May Day march was held in St‑Michel Wednesday, emphasizing the stress on working people of the rising cost of living.
Update: A downtown march was dispersed by police after a couple of windows were broken. (Is that “violence”?) TVA has some video and a few photos.
MarcG 08:52 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
I’m going to go leave some flowers by those poor windows. It’s a day of mourning for all glass everywhere.
Meezly 09:42 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
There’s a Canada-wide consumer boycott of Loblaws during this month as the corporation rakes in record profits as many consumers struggle to put food on the table. It will be tricky to do since Loblaws owns so many supermarket and discount chains, like No Frills, Maxi and ValuMart, and countless others, like pharmacies (even Pharmaprix) and health services. But I think the point is also to show how just a few powerful companies can monopolize our staple industries and drive up the prices.
Kate 09:56 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
I would be doing it, but I rarely shop at a Loblaw property – that I know of. But I’d like to see Galen Weston taken down a peg.
jeather 10:10 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
Yeah, I can’t boycott Loblaws because I go to their stores maybe 3 times a year, I’m an all-Metro person. (Because of convenience, primarily.) I guess I could avoid whichever gas station is associated with, though not owned by, them?
I will say that the “10% higher profits and 15% higher dividends” announcement on the first day of the boycott is amusing.
I’d love to think this boycott would get somewhere.
Mozai 10:40 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
TIL: “Metro” is not a Gaelon-Weston enterprise. It ate A&P, Dominion, Loeb, The Barn, Marche Adonis, Food Basics, Marche Ami, among other grocery chains. G-W owns Pharmaprix, while Metro owns Jean-Coutu, Brunet, Drug Basics. It would be unfair to accuse them of the sins of their peer, but I can’t help being suspicious.
walkerp 12:55 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
I am every day deeply grateful for the independent supermarkets and butchers, bakers that we have in our neighbourhood here. It may seem hipster but at least we get quality foods where we can speak directly to the owners. And how weird, their price increases have been quite marginal compared to what I am hearing from Loblaw’s stores. This is what happens when there is a monopoly.
Joey 14:03 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
FYI though Loblaws owns the Pharmaprix banner (Shoppers Drug Mart elsewhere in Canada) and Metro owns Brunet and Jean-Coutu, the pharmacies themselves per Quebec law are all owned and operated by independent pharmacists, who contract with their banner for distribution and other services, e.g., marketing. Of course as the distributor Pharmaprix has tremendous influence on how the pharmacies are run and reaps a huge share of the revenue, but there is still a meaningful difference between “chain” pharmacies in Quebec than the rest of Canada.
Blork 16:50 on 2024-05-02 Permalink
Loblaws also has a share of T&T, the Asian market, which is why Provigo carries T&T private label products. Metro has a similar hand in Adonis. As far as I know PA is still independent, but it’s probably just a matter of time before they get absorbed into something larger.
It’s tough for me to boycott Provigo because it’s the closest and nicest store to me. (They recently renovated and there’s now an entire aisle that is like a T&T microcosm.) Also, their house-brand products are actually really good.
But I usually go to 440 for produce, because Provigo’s so soooo expensive and often not very fresh, but when pressed for time…
There’s an IGA a bit farther away in the other direction, but its produce section is awful.
There used to be a smaller Provigo just a few minutes walk from chez moi but they closed it over a decade ago. It sat empty for years, during which I literally wrote letters to Adonis and PA telling them about this EXCELLENT LOCATION but obviously they weren’t interested, which makes me really sad. The space is now used for some government offices and a Bingo hall.
dhomas 07:03 on 2024-05-03 Permalink
My household is participating in the Loblaw boycott, but it’s difficult. We have a Maxi within walking distance. Strangely, a new Maxi has just opened up (yesterday!) right across the street from the existing one, in a location that was a nice-ish Provigo up until about a month ago. The Adonis, Metro, and IGA stores close to me are not really walking distance, so I would have to take my car.
Honestly, though, all grocery chains are pretty much guilty of the same sin of Greed as Loblaws, but you can’t boycott them all. If I had to pick one, it would be Loblaws, since Galen Weston is insufferable and Weston foods was the face of bread price-fixing. Add in the pharmacy exclusivity deal with Pharmaprix/Shoppers Drug Mart earlier this year (see here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/manulife-loblaw-deal-impact-audience-explainer-1.7100440) and it makes for a pretty despicable company. I hope it hits them where it hurts (their stock price) and we see some prices coming down as a result.
Ian 07:23 on 2024-05-03 Permalink
@Blork that’s interesting about T&T being carried at some Provigo stores. I hadn’t seen it but Provigo stores do seem to have a lot of leeway in what they stock, at least compared to the more discount Maxi stores. Similarly I noticed that the IGA on Van Horne & Victoria carries the Kim Phat house brand. I wonder what the relationships are, like is it just a distribution agreement or do Provigo and IGA have actual partial ownership.
IGA does have pretty lousy produce but there’s always Lufa and corner grocers – which in my experience at least are the same price or less than Provigo.
Chris 07:30 on 2024-05-03 Permalink
>…after a couple of windows were broken. (Is that “violence”?)
Well, we are told words are violence, speech is violence, and silence is violence. So sure, why not!
GC 07:56 on 2024-05-03 Permalink
I thought Loblaws owned T&T outright, not so much that it “has a share” in it. (Purchased in 2009, according to CBC.)
Ian 09:33 on 2024-05-03 Permalink
Oh wow, I had no idea. Looks like I’ll be going to Kim Phat then, too bad – I like T&T. Kim Phat is owned by Sobeys, who is owned by Metro.
Blork 16:45 on 2024-05-03 Permalink
Out in the far reaches of Beyondo there’s an Asian market called Marché C&T, which is very Kim Phatesque. As far as I know they are independent, and there’s a branch just a few steps from the Fruiterie 440 that I go to every week or so. https://marchect.ca/
There’s also Marché Newon, which AFAIK is independent and gigantic like Kim Phat and T&T. Two branches I know of are right downtown at the Foubourg Ste-Catherine and another up on Jean-Talon not far from the Namur Metro.
nau 10:04 on 2024-05-04 Permalink
Sobeys is associated with IGA not Metro. They’re both banners of a group with the ever so subtle name of Empire.
Ian 11:24 on 2024-05-04 Permalink
Ah, thanks for the correction.
@Blork i do like Newon, I regularly go to the one on JT. Not as big as T&T but still very good for produce.
G&D in Chinatown is pretty decent too since we are mentioning downtown Asian groceries.
Uatu 16:12 on 2024-05-04 Permalink
The c and t in Brossard is also good but crowded AF in the weekend. I liked shopping at Thai Foo but that was demolished because the land was bought by the REM next to the Panama station and is now a vacant lot. Thanks REM.