Thank you to the over 35,000 Canadians that signed onboard my petition calling for action. I need your help to continue to build momentum and pressure.

1. Send me photos of your grocery store receipts and prices that you find outrageous. You can submit them here.
2. I'm meeting with MPs throughout next week to chat about my petition and the action I'm calling for. It would be great to share videos with them of Canadians who are fed up with grocery prices. If you can record a short video explaining why you are signing this petition, please upload it here.
3. If you work for Loblaw Companies or any other grocery store in the country, feel free to send me examples of price gouging, labour exploitation or etc. You can email me at (haruun@ualberta.ca). Your name will remain confidential. 
4. Follow me on Twitter for daily updates on my advocacy surrounding greedflation and price gouging. 
5. Share this petition with 5 friends or family members. If everyone who sees this update was to share it with 5 friends or family members, we could easily exceed over 150,000 signatures in days. If you have extra money you can spare you can pay to have this petition promoted to more Canadians, you can do so here.

Last week, my petition was covered in several different articles and on radio shows across the country. I wanted to take a moment to share some of them with you and the impact it is having. 

1. Thousands of Canadians are now calling for an investigation into Loblaw Companies. -- Blog Toronto 

2. Thousands sign petition for investigation into Loblaws grocery prices
   Author of the article. -- Toronto Sun

3. Edmonton man starts petition for feds to look into grocery store 'greed-flation'. -- City News Edmonton

I wanted to address a claim made by an economics professor at the University of Concordia. He suggested that there is no pandemic profiteering or greedflation. I wanted to take a moment to debunk these false claims using his own words. 

In the article, he suggested that if a supplier sells a store an item for a $1 and their policy is a 100% markup so they sell it to you the consumer for $2. If the supplier increases the price to a $1.50 and they sell it to you for $3. Why? Because their policy is a 100% markup. That extra $0.50 in profit is greedflation and is driving the price of food up. If grocery store chains are already drawing a profit of $1, why is it acceptable for them to increase their profits on top of what the supplier is increasing it by. The answer is that it shouldn't be acceptable. 

Economists like this one anger me personally because of their tone deaf comments in which they tell Canadians to "hang on" for a few more months. People are rationing their meals and food and especially those on income supports. They can't hold on anymore and the reality is that greedy corporate CEO's have a role to play in this. 

My position is that the 0.50 increase coming from the supplier could be reasonably explained as inflation however the 0.50 profit increase from the store is clearly "greedflation". Further, if Loblaw Companies which is closely related with some suppliers like George Weston Limited could collude to increase the supplier cost in which they could then increase their store profits, why wouldn't they? While I'm not accusing them of that primarily to avoid any potential for legal action, it's some food for thought. 

I also wanted to share my takes on some of the comments that I have been receiving. 

1. I never suggested that Loblaw Companies is the only corporation that is engaging in greedflation. In my personal opinion, they are all engaging in it to some level and should be equally investigated by parliament. However, Loblaw Companies is the face of food inflation in this country by their own accord. Loblaw Companies is just one of many that need to be investigated and I believe they are first corporation that parliament should conduct an investigation on. 
2. I support the NDP's call for a windfall profits tax to prevent grocery stores from price gouging Canadians and to return stability to these prices. 
3. I have been seeing a lot of comments suggesting that folks shop elsewhere and vote with their wallet. These type of privileged takes often anger me as a community organizer. Loblaw owned stores are quite literally everywhere and as a matter of fact they brag about owning a store within 10km of 90% of Canadians. They are one of the largest grocers in the country. The average Canadian can't boycott companies like this without some sort of cost whether it be financial or time. If you are privileged enough to do so, I encourage you to boycott Loblaw owned stores however I do not support the demonization of those who shop at these locations.

Once again, I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has reached out to share their concerns. I see you and I hear you. I promise that I'm working hard to see this through to the end. If you want to join my efforts, feel free to send me an email at haruun@ualberta.ca and I will share more information. 

In solidarity,
Haruun Ali