by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) A bread cartel is alive and well in Canada; or is it? The Competition Bureau is carrying out an investigation of major grocery chains in search of evidence of retail price fixing. Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Wal-Mart, and other companies have acknowledged the continuing investigation. The outcome of this inquiry [...]
The Telegram, 1 November 2017 by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Food trends are difficult to follow these days. As with hip sectors such as the high-tech industry, the food industry is coming up with its own peculiar lingo when describing market shifts. One of the latest examples is “grocerant,” a word combining “grocer” and “restaurant.” The [...]
>The Record, 31 October 2017 by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Food inflation continues to be an illusion in Canada. According to Statistics Canada, food prices have dropped once again over the last month, by almost 1%. Food prices are below the general inflation rate, just as they have been for most of the year [...]
by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Despite Canada’s optimism, NAFTA talks seem to be heading nowhere. Wanting to push back on Mexico’s influence over the American economy, Washington now is indicating that the bilateral option with Canada is more appealing. In Trump’s playbook, multilateral deals are highly complex and can only benefit smaller markets to [...]
by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) If all things go to plan, as of July 1, 2018, legal-aged Canadians will be able to walk into a store, experience a perhaps not-so-friendly retail environment and buy cannabis. Federal and provincial government leaders are working out how and in what form you will be able to buy it. [...]
by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Troy Media, 3 October 2017 Fall is always a good time to create new habits, and coffee chains know this. These days, they are desperately trying to find any excuse to get you to drink their java. Many chains are using National or International Coffee Day as a reason to offer [...]
by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Troy Media, 20 September 2017 The Chronicle Herald, 19 September 2017 The Business Examiner, 22 September 2017 Exchange Magazine, 21 September 2017 Two things have always been certain: death and taxes. We can now add a third: botching the promotion of a tax reform for political gains. Federal Finance [...]
By SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Guelph Mercury Tribune, 27 September 2017 The Record, 27 September 2017 The Hamilton Spectator, 27 September 2017 The Windsor Star, 21 September 2017 Business Vancouver, 6 October 2017 People in Ann Arbor, Michigan are about to experience home food delivery without a driver. Domino’s Pizza and Ford have paired [...]
By SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Troy Media, 13 September 2017 Ontario has become the first province to define how it intends to sell non-medicinal marijuana to the public. Around 150 stores across the province will open and will be operated by a division of the province’s liquor board, the LCBO. Marijuana won’t be sold [...]
By SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS (AIMS Senior Fellow) Canadian Investor, 29 August 2017 Kitchener Post, 08 September 2017 Vancouver Sun, 12 September 2017 Amazon is not wasting time. Speed of execution is at the essence of Amazon’s model. As soon as U.S. regulators approved its acquisition of Whole Foods, it announced that it would aggressively reduce the price of several [...]