While Canadians have continued to suffer under drastically increased prices at cash registers for months, it's come to light that in terms of groceries, at least, global inflation isn't the only culprit driving up prices, which has left consumers rightfully indignant.

Politicians and the public alike have been demanding that supermarkets be held accountable for using the excuse of inflation to jack up prices — and their profit margins — even further, and it appears that their calls have just been answered.

Shame on them. They made millions of dollars profit during the pandemic.

— David Ros (@DavidRosadoR) July 19, 2022

The Competition Bureau of Canada, an independent regulator of competition in the nation's markets, has decided to probe our major grocery store chains in light of the fact that the prices of their products have risen more than actual inflation rates — 9.7 per cent vs. 7.7 per cent, StatCan data showed this summer.

"Grocery prices in Canada are increasing at the fastest rate seen in 40 years," the agency noted in a release announcing its investigation on Monday.

Considering they haven't done anything against telecom industry yet not holding my breath. But better than nothing.

— Alexis Gee (@lexomatic) October 24, 2022

"Many factors are thought to have impacted the price of food including extreme weather, higher input costs, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and supply chain disruptions. Are competition factors also at work? To find out, the Bureau will study this issue."

The governmental arm will focus on determining how much changing competitive dynamics may be contributing to price hikes, how we can help foster better competition in the industry and how we can lower barriers to entry into the sector.

CEO and store profits greatly increase during a pandemic and during inflation, yet workers aren't getting paid more, and consumers can’t afford food. Investigate.

Politicians are finally shaming Canadian grocery stores for screwing over customers https://t.co/ag4sY9qPg4

— Shaun Proulx (@ShaunProulx) September 29, 2022

Stakeholders, which include customers, are being asked to submit their thoughts and concerns on the topic through a special online portal or via email by December 16.

The findings of the study, which runs from this month until June, will be released publicly along with these submissions, and will also contain suggestions for next steps from relevant authorities and levels of government.

typical of this retailer. Remember price fixing of bread? Have you shopped Loblaws recently? You need to be Galen Weston to afford the price of anything…let alone their private house brand! And of course reducing price of house brand means more sales and more profit for Weston.

— Teddy Warren Blythe (@tankted) October 17, 2022

"This will be a tough study for us to do. It's a complex industry. For market studies like this, we do not have the ability to force grocery retailers to give us documents and data that they use to make pricing decisions. Instead, we have to rely on information that is publicly available or provided voluntarily," the bureau admits. 

"We hope that our work will help to increase competition in Canada to save Canadians money, and make grocery shopping easier."

People have been especially angry with Loblaws after they announced a price freeze on its No Name brand items, which most considered to be a very weak PR stunt. Others even pointed out potential collusion similar to the famed bread price-fixing scheme after Metro chimed in saying that price freezes at this time of year are a common industry practice.