Retailers Walmart and Costco have agreed to join Canada’s grocery code of conduct.
A statement from Canada’s federal, provincial and territorial ministers of agriculture confirmed that “all major retailers” in the country, including “Loblaws, Sobeys, and Metro, and most recently, Walmart and Costco”, had now endorsed the code of practice.
The ministers added: “This is a positive step towards bringing more fairness, transparency, and predictability to Canada's grocery supply chain and for consumers.”
In a statement on X, federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Lawrence MacAulay said this was “good news for the sector and for competition”.
André Lamontagne, Quebec’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food also posted on the social media platform, noting that “ultimately, consumers will win!”
In a statement, Walmart said that it "already has great working relationships with our suppliers and we firmly believe that this is a key reason for our ability to serve our customers well and succeed.... We have not seen the need to have a Code.
"That said, we appreciate that key industry players have worked for many years towards a retailer-supplier grocery code of conduct. We joined the process last year to assess the proposed structure and provide our input and voice our concerns. More recently, we met with industry and retailer partners, reviewed the latest version, proposed comments, and sought clarification on some key provisions.
"It’s clear significant progress has been made towards a fairer and more balanced code. As a result, we’ve indicated our willingness to support the current version of the grocery code of conduct.
"We still have some important discussions with the industry steering committee regarding governance and dispute resolution. Overall, we will continue to do all we can to ensure that the code will not be an impediment to our purpose – to help Canadians to save money and live better."
Just Food has also contacted Costco for comment.
The code, which has been in development since at least 2022, looks to improve transparency and fair competition across the supply chain and operate as a space through which to resolve disputes. Its evolution is being overseen by the Office of the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct (OGSCC), chaired by Michael Graydon, CEO of the Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada (FHCP) trade body.
Loblaw announced its commitment to join the code in May. Sharing “support” for the code at the time, the retailer said an essential aspect of discussions centred on creating a code that benefited “small suppliers, consumers and the industry, recognising the complexities of the Canadian grocery market”.
A statement on X at the time from Sylvain Charlebois, a professor in food distribution and policy at the Faculties of Management and Agriculture at Dalhousie University in Halifax, indicated that Walmart was “the lone holdout” in agreeing to sign up to the code.
When asked for comment by Just Food on its views around the code, a Walmart spokesperson said it had “just received the latest draft of the revised Grocery Code of Conduct, which was not previously shared with us”.
They added the company would “review it and determine next steps. As we’ve said all along, we continue to be focused on our consumers’ best interests”.
The original date for implementation of the code confirmed by FHCP in May was 1 June. This has now been moved to June 2025, the industry body told Just Food.
