Canada food group George Weston and its retail subsidiary Loblaw have settled a nationwide class action lawsuit linked to alleged industry-wide price fixing of certain packaged bread products in the country.
The companies signed binding minutes of settlement for C$500m ($347.4m) in July 2024, which was formally executed on 31 January 2025, Ontario class counsel Strosberg Wingfield Sasso said in a statement.
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However, the settlement is pending court approval in Ontario and Quebec.
If approved, it grants a full and final release to Loblaw, George Weston, and affiliated companies on behalf of all individuals and businesses in Canada that bought packaged bread for personal use or resale between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2021.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, George Weston and Loblaw will have to pay C$404m in cash, in addition to C$96m previously paid by Loblaw through the Loblaw Card programme.
The funds, after court-approved expenses, will be allocated with 78% designated for settlement class members residing outside Quebec and 22% for those within Quebec.
George Weston had not responded to Just Food’s request for comment at the time of writing.
Strosberg Wingfield Sasso managing partner Jay Strosberg said: “This is a significant milestone in Canadian class action history and sends a strong message that conduct that harms consumers will not be tolerated.”
The class-action lawsuits had alleged that the defendants engaged in a 14-year conspiracy to fix bread prices, leading to artificially inflated costs since November 2001.
The Competition Bureau of Canada launched an investigation into the claims in 2015, which involved multiple companies, including Canada Bread, Weston Foods, and Loblaw.
The Bureau alleged that at least C$1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread as part of the price fixing.
In December 2017, Weston Foods and Loblaw owned up to the part they played in a bread price-fixing scandal and in return for their cooperation gained immunity from prosecution.
In October 2021, George Weston sold the bulk of its Canadian bakery business, what was then Weston Foods, to affiliated entities of FGF Brands for C$1.2bn.
At the time, Weston Foods employed approximately 6,000 people across 33 facilities in Canada and the US.
Other entities implicated in the class action include Maple Leaf Foods, which previously owned Canada Bread before its acquisition by Grupo Bimbo in 2014, and retail chains such as Metro, Sobeys, Wal-Mart Canada, and Giant Tiger Stores.
In June 2023, Canada Bread was fined C$50m after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act.
In September 2024, the Bureau updated Just Food with the status of proceedings with a spokesperson saying: “The Bureau continues to investigate alleged price-fixing by other companies, including Metro Inc., Sobeys Inc., Wal-Mart Canada Corporation, Giant Tiger Stores Limited, and Maple Leaf Foods Inc.”
The Bureau added that “no conclusion of wrongdoing have been made, and no charges have been filed against these companies”.
In October 2024, an Ontario court dismissed a motion seeking to add Maple Leaf Foods in a class-action lawsuit related to the bread price-fixing, upholding a December 2021 Ontario Superior Court ruling that excluded the company from the case.
Plaintiffs for Canada Bread had sought the inclusion of Maple Leaf in the lawsuit, accusing it of using Canada Bread “as a shield” to evade responsibility in the matter.
Jim Orr, a partner at law firm Orr Taylor, which co-leads the class action, said that the recent settlement with George Weston and Loblaw offers “access to information” to be used in pursuing the case against the remaining defendants.
He added: “The expectation is that this will result in further significant monetary recovery for Canadians.”
