The federal government is still looking for foreign grocery store operators to come to Canada to increase competition and give residents more options.
According to a Wall Street Journal access to information request, the federal government is looking at a dozen or so potential companies to enter the Canadian market and compete with the country’s big three grocery stores, Loblaw Companies Limited (Loblaw), Metro Inc. (Metrocor) and (Sobeys Inc.).
The list currently consists of 12 companies, mostly based in Europe, with one from the United States Grocery Outlet Holdings (U.S. grocery chain with 470 discount stores). Other grocery chains that have been courted by the federal government include German, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian and Dutch grocery chains.
The search began last fall after the federal government criticized the country’s three big grocery stores for not disclosing the reasons for food inflation. It is unclear what financial incentives would be required to entice foreign players to come to Canada.
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