Loblaw Companies
Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel.[6] Loblaw operates a private label program that includes grocery and household items, clothing, baby products, pharmaceuticals, cellular phones, general merchandise and financial services. Loblaw is the largest Canadian food retailer, and its brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh.[7] It is controlled by George Weston Limited, a holding company controlled by the Weston family;[8] Galen G. Weston, is the chair of the Loblaw board of directors, as well as chair of the board of directors and CEO of Canada-based holding company George Weston.[9]
"Loblaw" redirects here. For the supermarket chain, see Loblaws. For other uses, see Loblaw (disambiguation).
Robert Sawyer is the current COO of Loblaw and announced his intention to retire at the end of 2023. He will be replaced as president and CEO by Per Bank.[9]
Most of Loblaw's 136,000 full-time and part-time employees are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers, with the exception of workers at The Real Canadian Wholesale Club in Alberta, who are members of the Christian Labour Association of Canada.
Loblaw's regional food distribution divisions include Westfair Foods Ltd. in Western Canada and Northern Ontario, National Grocers Co. Ltd. in Ontario, Provigo Inc. in Quebec, and Atlantic Wholesalers Ltd. in Atlantic Canada.[10]
Corporate governance[edit]
The current members of the Board of Directors of Loblaw Companies Limited are: Galen Weston Jr. (Executive Chairman), Stephen E. Bachand, Paul M. Beeston, Gordon A. M. Currie, Anthony S. Fell, Christiane Germain, Anthony R. Graham, John S. Lacey, Nancy H. O. Lockhart, Thomas C. O'Neil, and John D. Wetmore.[95]
Controversies[edit]
In April 2019, it was reported that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave Loblaws a federal grant of $12 million Canadian dollars for new refrigeration units in their stores in order to agree to spending $36 million on upgrading their refrigerators to a more environmentally friendly model.[96] Both Trudeau and the Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in April 2019 were criticized for allowing $12 million taxpayer dollars to go to the second richest family in Canada for new refrigerator installations.[97] Joanne Dobson, and Meredith Logan, two of Loblaws top lobbyists, donated thousands of dollars to the Liberal Party of Canada, and hosted fundraising events for the Liberals and Trudeau family.[98]
In January 2018, Loblaws was implicated in price-fixing the cost of bread in Canada, taking part from 2001 until 2015.[99] The company admitted its involvement in the scheme.[97] In response to the price-fixing, in January 2018, all consumers were offered the chance to receive a $25 gift card for bread. Previously, the company had estimated between 3 and 5 million Canadians would sign up.[100] There was some criticism for the Loblaws policy of requiring an ID for the gift cards,[101] which was investigated by the privacy commissioner of Canada[102] and resulted in protests.[103]
Also in 2018, Loblaws was ordered to pay back taxes of $368 million in relation to a banking subsidiary in the Caribbean.[97] It involved a Loblaws Inc. subsidiary in Barbados that had been renamed Glenhuron Bank.[104] Loblaws had net earnings of around $800 million in 2018,[97] and profits of $3 billion.[105]
In August 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that Loblaws could not be held responsible for the Rana Plaza textile factory disaster which killed 1,130 people and seriously injured 2,520 others in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At the time, the garment factory was under an arm's length contract to manufacture items for Loblaws' Joe Fresh brand.[106]
In January 2020, it was reported that 800 employees were being laid off in Quebec and Ontario in 2021 when Loblaws switched to automated distribution at two of its major facilities.[107] In May 2020, the franchise stated it would re-open service counters in the near future, after being closed for the COVID-19 pandemic.[108] The company hiked employee pay in March 2020 for the coronavirus pandemic,[109] upping wages by $2 per hour.[110][111] The union Unifor criticized Loblaws for removing the pandemic pay bump in June 2020.[112] Despite revenue growth, in July 2020, Loblaws reported that profits were down due to expenditures related to the pandemic.[113] Starting September 1, 2020, it was announced that Loblaws and its associated company Shoppers Drug Mart were offering asymptomatic testing for COVID-19 at all their pharmacies.[114]
In March 2023, Galen Weston Jr. along with the CEOs of Metro Inc. and Empire Co. was summoned to testify before a House of Commons committee as part of an ongoing study on food price inflation.[115] He informed lawmakers that the grocery chain earned $2.66 billion Canadian dollars before taxes in the previous year, at a pre-tax margin of 4.7%; up slightly from 4.6% a year earlier. Lawmakers were told that the higher margins came from pharmacy, cosmetic and apparel sales, while overall sales have benefitted from consumers shifting spending away from restaurants toward groceries.[116]