On Wednesday (March 8) the CEOs and presidents of Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Metro Inc., and Empire Co. Ltd. appeared before a parliamentary committee studying grocery inflation and the footage has sparked outrage among Vancouverites, particularly the testimony of billionaire chairman, president, and CEO of Loblaw, Galen Weston Jr.
Federal politicians, including NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh drilled the business leaders to be more transparent about what is driving record-high profits for grocery companies.
Collectively, the CEOs denied the claims that they were responsible for inflating food prices, calling it "false".
However, Weston did admit that he makes big profits off financial services and apparel and pharmacy sales, which apparently account for more than half of his business. A detail that did not go unnoticed by Vancouver residents expressing their dissatisfaction with Weston online.
"So is Galen Weston telling us that he may not be ripping us off at Loblaws but he sure is at Shoppers Drug Mart to make up his exorbitant profits?" Tweets one local calling the move, the "code of conduct for these evil capitalists."
She follows up the Tweet with another that reads: "The cost of Galen Weston's suit is more than I spend on groceries in a year, and I work very hard to feed myself healthy food. These grocery magnates are lying and self-pitying."
She's not the only one to speak out online following the proceedings. Many others took to Twitter to roast Weston or question his credibility.
At one point, Weston tells the committee that a customer once confronted him about food prices at one of his stores and claims that after explaining the underlying factors to her, she was satisfied with his response.
People online aren't buying it.
One person joked that if such an interaction did take place, Weston would be likely to "release the hounds on her."
Some people were more direct with their disbelief, asking "I’m curious if anyone actually believes Galen Weston and his rationals?"
While others, meme-ified the whole thing with a picture of a child in the courtroom captioned: "We are all this kid right now."
With files from The Canadian Press.
