Business Matters: Loblaw and Walmart have refused to sign Canada's grocery code of conduct, documents show

I’m Ann Gaviola with your top business headlines right now. The federal government could impose a grocery code of conduct if Loblaw and Walmart continue to hold out on signing an agreement which was intended to be voluntary. It would set out agreed upon rules for negotiations between industry players, including retailers and suppliers. In December, the CEOs of Loblaw and Walmart told a Commons committee studying food prices they couldn’t commit to the code in its current form because they believe it will raise prices. Now, even though food inflation has been easing at the grocery store, that doesn’t mean that affordability has improved. New polling by Ipsos exclusively for Global News shows 83% of people across Canada say their weekly grocery bill has increased in the last six months. More than 1/3 say their weekly grocery bill has increased by up to $50.00 in the last six months. 1/4 say it’s gone up between 51 and $100. This is very unsustainable for very many Canadians, they tell us in the survey. That’s the way that they look at this issue. What the number happens to be in the business pages are on the evening business reports about whether inflation is up or down is not as relevant as what you experience in your day-to-day lives. If so, CEO Darryl Bricker says the data suggests lower income households are seeing larger increases in their weekly grocery bills than higher income households. Google’s corporate parent Alphabet has released a quarterly report showing it’s still reaping double digit revenue gains from its digital advertising empire. In a sign of the company’s vigor, Alphabet disclosed plans to begin paying a quarterly shareholder dividend for the first time since Google went public 20 years ago, and Microsoft has reported that its profit rose 20% for the January March quarter. It’s trying to position itself as a leader in applying artificial intelligence technology to make workplaces more productive. The company reported quarterly profit of $21.93 billion. China’s vision of the future of the automobile. Electrified and Digitally Connected is on display at the Beijing Auto Show. Organizers say 117 new models are making their debut at Auto China 2024, which runs through May 4th. They range from eye poppingly cutting edge to some more subtle novelties. And those are the top business stories right now. For more, you can head to globalnews.ca. I’m Anne Kaviola.