The Canada Bread Company has 30 days to pay $50-million in fines after the company pleaded guilty to four counts of price fixing.
The Canada Bread Company may not be a household name, but Dempsters, Villaggio, POM, Bon Matin, Ben's, Stonemill, Takis, Sanissimo, and Vacho are.
The Ontario Superior Court endorsed the fines after presentations from the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and Canada Bread Company Limited's lawyers.
The case stems from a lengthy investigation by the Competition Bureau of Canada that targeted the Canada Bread Company, its largest competitor, Weston Foods, and retailers like Loblaw, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart, and Giant Tiger.
In an Agreed Statement of Facts filed with the court, the company admitted to entering agreements with Weston Foods and others to increase wholesale fresh commercial bread prices on four occasions. That resulted in a price increase of seven cents a loaf for consumers in October 2007 and 14 cents in March 2011.
Initially, the company was fined $10-million each for the first and second counts before March 2010 and $25-million for the third and fourth counts after that date.
Following negotiations, the Competition Bureau's Leniency Program recommended leniency.
Mexican food company Grupo Bimbo bought the company in May 2014, after the offences occurred and has cooperated with investigators. Previously, it was majority controlled by Maple Leaf Foods.
The Competition Bureau launched its investigation in 2015.
