(OTTAWA) A Costco executive told the parliamentary committee studying food inflation that the wholesaler had not sought to boost profits in the face of rapidly rising food prices.
The executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Costco Wholesale International and Canada, Pierre Riel, spoke to the committee on Monday evening.
Mr. Riel is the fifth executive of a large grocery store to appear before the committee, after federal politicians called on the food retailing industry to be more transparent about rising prices and profits.
In early March, executives from Loblaw, Metro and Empire, Canada’s largest grocers, told MPs that food price inflation was not driven by profit motives.
Later that month, the CEO of Walmart Canada echoed the others, saying the US giant was not trying to cash in on food price inflation.
Food inflation exceeded general inflation, with prices rising nearly 11% in February from a year earlier.