Metro boosts dividend as it posts better-than-expected Q3 results

Metro boosts dividend as it posts better-than-expected Q3 results

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La Flèche told the committee his calls to competitors were in “perfect compliance” with the Competition Act.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, however, has said he believes enough evidence came out during the committee meeting to warrant a Competition Bureau investigation. In an interview last month, Erskine-Smith said that, if the bureau didn’t find reason to investigate, he would explore changing Canadian competition laws.

“If the Competition Bureau is of the view that they aren’t going to proceed with an investigation because our laws are not fit for purpose with respect for wage fixing, then we have to have a different conversation internally with the minister to say, ‘How do we fix these laws?’” Erskine-Smith told the Financial Post last month.

On Wednesday, Erskine-Smith confirmed he was planning on following through, saying in an email that he was “working on a brief that compares our weak laws against wage fixing with the much stronger competition laws in the United States,” and raising the issue with Industry Minister Navdeep Bains’ office.

“It’s still in the initial stages of advocacy,” he said.

Metro’s online sales increased by 280 per cent in the quarter, compared to last year. The massive growth — a common effect of the pandemic on the grocery sector — has led the chain to significantly accelerate its e-commerce plan, adding more “hub stores” in Quebec and Ontario to act as delivery fulfillment centres and planning to increase its number of stores providing click-and-collect service by 30 in fiscal 2021.

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