A battle over vegetables has erupted in Canada, and it’s another sign of potentially divergent priorities between the federal government and the Competition Bureau. The enforcement agency this week stepped in to prevent one company – Nortera – from cornering the market, despite government-imposed tariffs on foreign imports that are aiding the firm.
The Competition Bureau on Wednesday said it is challenging Nortera’s acquisition of the Green Giant and Le Sieur brands and businesses for an undisclosed amount from the Canadian subsidiary of New Jersey-based B&G Foods. The Bureau is also requesting that the Competition Tribunal prevent the companies from closing the deal, which was announced in October, until the case can be heard.
The Bureau believes the acquisition by Brossard, Que.-based Nortera, which is the dominant processor of canned and frozen vegetables in Canada and owner of the Arctic Gardens and Del Monte brands, would lead to higher prices for consumers, fewer choices and less competition in wholesale grocery supply.
The challenge comes amid an ongoing inquiry by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT), initiated by Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne in March, that is looking into whether foreign imports of canned vegetables are harming domestic processors, including Nortera.
Champagne in June announced a 10-per-cent tariff on canned vegetables from a number of countries, effectively raising the price on many imports until the CITT concludes its study, expected in September.
In a press release at the time, Champagne said he was ordering the inquiry in response to a formal request from the Canadian Association of Vegetable Growers and Processors, a lobby group that appears to have come into existence just this year.
The group registered its first ever communication with a designated public office holder on Feb. 9, with a further seven following after that. Half of the total were with Finance department officials and one with the Prime Minister’s Office, with “international trade, imports and measures applicable to vegetables” disclosed as general details of the meetings.
The group does not publicly disclose its membership and does not have a website. Alik Angaladian, a principal at public and government relations firm Maple Leaf Strategies who is the association’s registered lobbyist, said in an email that it is “the voice of Canadian vegetable growers, harvesters, employees, and processors from coast to coast to coast, working to protect and strengthen the sector from farm to consumer.”
She did not respond to a query about who its members are, or why it doesn’t have a website.
Nortera spokesperson Gabrielle Fallu confirmed that the company is a member of the association, but also did not respond to a query about other members or its lack of online presence.
Representatives for Champagne did not provide answers over why he initiated the CITT probe at the request of a new organization about which so little is publicly known.
“Any interested party can seek an inquiry, and the government refers the matter to the [Canadian International Trade] Tribunal, which examines the evidence on whether increased imports are seriously harming Canadian producers,” an official in his office said in an email. “The measure currently in place is provisional, pending the Tribunal’s findings.”
In its response to the Competition Bureau’s challenge, Nortera said its acquisition of B&G Foods Canada’s businesses is in Canada’s best interests.
“At a time when the Canadian vegetable industry is facing increasing pressure from imports, maintaining strong domestic production and processing capacity is critical to the long-term resilience of Canada’s food supply. The transaction would help preserve that capacity, support Canada’s food security and food sovereignty, and provide greater long-term stability for the farmers and local partners who underpin this supply chain,” the company said in a release on Wednesday.
“These objectives are closely aligned with the government of Canada’s recently launched National Food Security Strategy, which recognizes the importance of increasing domestic food production and processing, reducing reliance on foreign suppliers, and building a stronger, more resilient Canadian food system.”
The Bureau’s challenge of Nortera’s acquisition is not the first instance of the agency pursuing an outcome that potentially differs from the federal government’s industrial policy, which competition insiders say has shifted toward favouring large, national champions ever since relations with the United States soured under President Donald Trump.
The Bureau earlier this year also announced it was challenging Calgary-based Keyera’s acquisition of Houston-based Plains All American Pipeline’s Canadian natural gas liquids business on the grounds that it would reduce competition in the Alberta market and increase costs across the supply chain.
The government is seen as wanting that deal to go ahead. As Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Willis put it at the time, the “Competition Bureau seems to have missed the memo from the Prime Minister’s Office.”
As reported here last month, this divergence in priorities is seen as perhaps the main reason for why the government is dragging its heels in naming a new full-time Competition Commissioner.
Jeanne Pratt has been acting commissioner since Matthew Boswell stepped down early from the post in December. Boswell, who held the job for seven years, is considered to be the most activist commissioner to ever helm the Bureau, and current leadership – if the mounting challenges are any indication – is continuing in that vein.
In the meantime, consumers continue to struggle with runaway food costs. Canada consistently leads the G7 in food inflation, with a lack of competition throughout the system pegged by experts as a big factor.
According to Statistics Canada figures, a basket of frozen and canned green beans, corn, mixed vegetables, peas, and beans and lentils – the goods at the centre of the Bureau’s newest challenge – cost an average of $20.09 in June, 2026, up 39 per cent from $14.39 in June, 2017. That’s 7 per cent higher than the rate of inflation, according to the Bank of Canada’s inflation calculator.
With food costs consistently ranking as Canadians’ biggest concern in polls, some observers say the government shouldn’t be pushing short-term industrial policy over longer-term competitive needs.
In the case of Nortera, the feds should be supporting the Bureau’s challenge over the company’s lobbying, says Regina Seibel, an assistant professor of economics analysis and policy at the University of Toronto who specializes in competition and market power.
“This is a super concentrated industry, we shouldn’t have even let it come this far,” she says. “From an economics perspective, this acquisition is unambiguously not good and the only reason to go through with it is either political or falsely applied industrial policy.”
🎧 ON THE PODCAST THIS WEEK:
💾 BIG TECH
The big news of the week was certainly Canada’s trade deal with the United States, and while full details are not yet known, a congratulatory tweet by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer about how the two countries were in “digital trade alignment” raised sovereignty concerns on this side of the border. In interpreting what that message might mean in a Globe and Mail article, a number of competition and consumer advocates worried that it could result in concessions to Big Tech companies and cementing the positions of firms including GOOGLE, META and APPLE. Former BlackBerry co-chief executive Jim Balsillie told the newspaper that trade agreements with the U.S. have become a means of “regulatory remote control,” while Andrew Clement, chair of Canadians for Digital Sovereignty, said “‘alignment’ on digital trade is the polite word for adopting rules written for American platforms.” We’ll obviously have more on this as further details of the trade deal emerge.
🕺 ENTERTAINMENT
In the latest episode of the PARAMOUNT saga, the company this week asked the judge overseeing the antitrust lawsuits filed by U.S. states and the Writers Guild of America to require the plaintiffs to pay a $1.88 billion (U.S.) bond to cover its losses for delaying its $111 billion takeover of WARNER BROS. DISCOVERY. The trial in the lawsuit isn’t scheduled to begin until March, but Paramount will have to start paying Warner Bros. a “ticking fee” amounting to about $7 million per day beginning on Oct. 1 until the deal closes. Paramount wants the WGA and the 12 involved states to pony up for the bond, which it would pocket if it wins the antitrust case.
As part of its ongoing battle, PARAMOUNT late last week also said it had received regulatory approvals to proceed with the Warner Bros. acquisition in 68 countries, including Canada. That part is true, with the Competition Bureau quietly issuing a “no-action letter” on July 9. Among the objectors on this side of the border were the NETWORK OF INDEPENDENT CANADIAN EXHIBITORS, which represents 140 cinemas across the country. In April, NICE warned that the merger will consolidate as much as 40 per cent of the combined Canada and U.S. box office and requested that the Bureau conduct a full and rigorous review of the deal, paying specific attention to how it will impact Canadian filmmakers and independent theatres, as well as theatrical distribution. The organization also asked for legally binding conditions protecting fair access to content and fair dealing in contract terms should the deal ultimately go through. Bureau spokesperson Sarah Brown confirms that the agency is not taking currently taking action and declined to provide a copy of the no-action letter. “It is important to note that the [Competition] Act allows for a one-year period following the completion of a transaction during which we may bring an application to the Competition Tribunal challenging a notifiable transaction,” she said. “We are required by law to conduct our work in private, therefore I am unable to share additional information, nor can I share a copy of the no-action letter.”
🛒 GROCERY & RETAIL
Sobeys and Longo’s parent EMPIRE is buying nine MORELLI’S pharmacies in Ontario. The pharmacies, started by Gerry Morelli in 1990, are already co-located in Longo’s stores, and will be rebranded under the chain’s name after the deal’s expected closing in 2027. Empire also owns LAWTONS DRUGS, which has 76 locations in Atlantic Canada, making it a primary competitor to LOBLAW and its SHOPPERS DRUG MART chain.
In case you missed it, a British woman recently went viral for her discovery of a MARS chocolate bar from 1991, which she then compared to a current version. It’s a great example of shrinkflation, where the older bar – which she describes as “enormous” – weighed in at 56 per cent more than today’s offering. “(The) price of everything’s increasing all the time,” she said. “We’re getting squeezed and squeezed more.”
📱 TELECOM
It’s not every day that a professional athlete in Toronto criticizes ROGERS – and there’s good reason for that – but TORONTO TEMPO player Marina Mabrey did it anyway. The New Jersey-born shooting guard put the cable company on blast this week for continuing internet problems in her Toronto apartment. “Someone please help me with Rogers WiFI. It literally doesn’t work and they never answer my calls,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. During a press conference on Monday, she doubled down and discussed how a Rogers technician had visited her home and supposedly fixed the problem, only to have it crap out again at a key moment of a basketball game she was watching. “I’m sick to death. I can’t order anything from Skims, Fashion Nova. I can order nothing,” she said. “I can barely FaceTime. I’m pissed. I’m about to tweet back at Rogers again.” Her critiques are notable because the Tempo, which play in the Women’s National Basketball Association, are one of the few professional sports teams in Toronto that aren’t owned by the cable and wireless giant. Not that the company didn’t have a chance – in 2023, MAPLE LEAF SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT minority owner Larry Tanenbaum advocated for the company to secure a WNBA franchise, but Edward Rogers opposed it. Tanenbaum eventually pursued and landed the team independently, and then shortly after sold his stake in MLSE to Rogers to give it full control and ownership over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Raptors, Argos, TFC and Blue Jays, plus the Rogers Centre and Scotiabank Arena. Mabrey’s critique is unusual given how unlikely it would be for a Leafs or Blue Jays player to criticize their teams’ owners on social media or live television.
Speaking of ROGERS and its former MLSE partner BELL, both companies are once again rolling out price increases on services. Certain internet packages at Rogers went up $7 this week, while Bell is boosting some wireless prices by $6, starting in October. Which brings us to…
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has rejected attempts by BELL, ROGERS and TELUS to derail its probe of new wireless charges the companies recently ushered in to defray a ban on switching, set-up and cancellation fees, which came into effect in June. The carriers variously added charges for device set-up, ESIMs and shipping, which led to the regulator launching an investigation earlier this summer. Telus in particular wanted the probe to be split into separate parts and accused the CRTC of predetermined bias, with the other two supporting its positions. The regulator denied the requests, as well as some made by consumer advocacy groups such as the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, which asked for a two-day oral hearing on the issue. The CRTC said a paper-based review would suffice.
And finally on the telecom front, the CRTC also this week temporarily suspended its ban on the sale of locked phones. BELL in particular has been lobbying the regulator to allow it to lock phones that it sells to its network, ostensibly to combat theft and fraud. The company has been disobeying the ban, which was enacted in 2017 to make it easier for customers to switch providers, so the CRTC has opted to let wireless carriers lock devices for two days until it can reach a final decision. Carriers must also unlock purchased devices immediately if requested to do so by the customer, the regulator said. The CRTC is conducting a hearing into the issue, with public interventions due by Sept. 14.
🚨 COMING UP
Canadians in the provinces complain about their telecom services for a variety of reasons, but they may have it good compared to their counterparts in the territories. The Yukon government recently wrote to Bell, the CRTC and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Melanie Joly about doing something to fix the poor and decaying state of wireless service. JEN GEHMAIR, Minister of Economy, Tourism and Culture for the territory, joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast this Tuesday to discuss the problem – and the responses she has (or has not) received.
Hi Peter,
Love to see you travel to other parts of the world and see how other governments and companies run successful competitive marketplaces.
Zooming out might give us better clues to have a successful mix of consumer value and corporate profits.
We know that there are some better models out there. Companies could take a page from other companies and countries. Customer service and profits should not be mutual exclusive.
History tells us competition can be fixed, but often is undermined by competition in the long run.