Maple Leaf Foods denies bread price-fixing allegations

Maple Leaf Foods asserted its innocence in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme ahead of a hearing to determine whether it will be added to an ongoing class-action lawsuit.

In a statement Sep. 18, Maple Leaf said any claims that it participated in the alleged conspiracy are false.

When the class-action lawsuit was originally certified in an Ontario court in 2021 against several grocery retailers and other food companies, Maple Leaf was not included.

However, the plaintiffs are set to argue in a hearing scheduled on Sep. 19 that Maple Leaf should be added as a defendant in the lawsuit because of its ownership of Canada Bread.

Canada Bread was fined by the bureau in 2023 after admitting to four counts of price-fixing, but has argued as part of the class-action lawsuit that Maple Leaf, which was its majority owner at the time, should shoulder the blame instead.

The class-action lawsuit is one of two launched in the wake of an ongoing Competition Bureau investigation into an alleged industry-wide conspiracy to fix the price of bread.