Western Grocer Serving the industry since 1916
PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 8, 2026) — Canada should lower grocery prices by making it easier to open stores and helping shoppers compare products, the International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) told Competition Bureau Canada in comments filed last week.
The comments were filed in response to the Bureau’s ongoing market study, “Being the Price Tag: Examining the Food Supply Chain,” which asks whether retailers’ pricing practices contributed to the sharp rise in grocery prices after 2021.
“Most of these practices help consumers,” ICLE Executive Director Ian Adams, Director of Economic Research Eric Fruits, and Chief Economist Brian Albrecht write. “They make prices easier to find, help supply respond to demand, reduce waste and shortages, and push retailers to compete harder.”
The submission urges caution because restrictions on lawful pricing can cause lasting harm in grocery retail, where firms operate on thin margins and high sales volumes. It also urges particular care under Section 78(1)(k) of Canada’s Competition Act, which classifies “excessive and unfair selling prices” as an anti-competitive act but defines neither term.
“High prices alone do not prove collusion or competitive harm,” the authors write. “Without evidence of exclusion or barriers to entry, enforcement risks turning the Bureau into a price regulator.”
Pricing algorithms generally automate tasks that managers have long performed, including monitoring public prices, tracking inventory, and adjusting prices as demand changes. Dynamic pricing can lower prices during slow periods, balance supply and demand, reduce food waste, and prevent shortages.
“If a manage may lawfully check competitors’ public prices and adjust his company’s prices, software may do the same,” the authors write. “Automation does not make lawful conduct illegal.”
Loyalty programs also tend to deliver genuine savings. A 2024 review by the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority found that 92 % of roughly 50,000 products offered through loyalty promotions produced real savings. Members discounts averaged 17% to 25%.
The comments treat shrinkflation—reducing a package’s size while keeping its price unchanged—as a comparison problem rather than proof of market power. Package resizing and product reformulation often reflect higher input costs, even in competitive markets. Harmonized unit pricing would let shoppers compare the price per gram, litre, or other standard measures.
The Bureau still has an important enforcement role. Competitors may pool confidential data through a common pricing service, while dominant firms may use exclusive loyalty terms to block rivals.
“Enforcement should target proven coordination, deception, and exclusion,” the authors write. “Parallel prices, commercial software, and loyalty programs do not establish violations by themselves.”
ICLE warns against same-terms mandates, margin caps, blanket restrictions on pricing software, and disclosure rules that expose confidential supplier terms to competition. Such measures could weaken discounting, make technology more costly for small grocers, and facilitate coordination.
The submission instead recommends consumer-facing rules, including harmonized unit pricing, clear final prices, and easy-to-understand loyalty terms. It also calls for zoning and land-use reform, limits on restrictive property covenants, better wholesale access for independent grocers, and fewer interprovincial trade barriers.
“The Bureau can best protect shoppers by making prices easier to compare, entry easier, and proven coordination or exclusion riskier,” the authors conclude.
Download the full comments here. To arrange an interview with Fruits, contact Jim Fellinger at jfellinger@laweconcenter.org.
About ICLE
The International Center for Law & Economics (ICLE) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research center working with a roster of more than one-hundred academic affiliates and research centers from around the globe. ICLE scholars promote the use of law and economics methodologies to inform public policy debates. For more information, visit laweconcenter.org.
