Starting in the new year, Canada’s grocery code of conduct will be in place, but the impact on your shopping experience remains to be seen.
Does that mean prices will go down? One expert is cautioning against expecting dramatic changes, suggesting most will likely be “invisible” to consumers.
The code of conduct is a document where the stakeholders in the grocery industry, retailers and their suppliers have agreed on a set of rules to govern the relationship between grocers and their suppliers.
“This sets a set of guidelines around what grocers can ask for and provides a dispute settling mechanism if suppliers say the grocers are asking for things that are not consistent with the code of conduct,” University of Guelph economist Mike von Massow said.
Last month, the Office of the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct announced that it had completed its governance framework, setting the ground for the implementation starting on Jan. 1, 2026.
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The office also formally launched the recruitment process for retailers and suppliers to sign on, although Canada’s top five grocers — Loblaw, Walmart, Costco, Metro and Sobeys owner Empire — had already agreed to support the process in July last year.
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Since then, most of the big grocers have signed the agreement, with Metro becoming the latest signatory last week.
“In 2025, we continued our efforts with the Code Office to ensure its success and we look forward to its implementation in the years ahead,” Metro CEO Eric La Flèche said.
The focus will now shift to getting the industry at large — including suppliers — to sign on.
“With the governance framework in place, we are now focused on supporting broad participation from across the sector,” said Karen Proud, president and adjudicator of the Grocery Sector Code of Conduct.
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The agreement is largely expected to impact the way retailers do business with their suppliers, setting guidelines on what costs they can pass on to suppliers, including farmers.
“During COVID, when they were ramping up their online ordering and delivery, some of the grocers said, ‘We’re going to charge our suppliers to help us fund it, so that we don’t have to pass those costs on to consumers.’ Some of their suppliers said, ‘Well, that’s not fair,’” von Massow said.
Will consumers feel a change?
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The changes to the grocery code of conduct will largely deal with how the grocery business is conducted behind the scenes, with charges and specific costs being governed by the document.
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But to what extent will it impact consumers? When you go to the grocery store on Jan. 1, you will not find your experience significantly different.
“This is going to be invisible to consumers,” von Massow said.
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Over the long run, it could potentially affect how quickly new products make it to market or the kind of choice available to consumers, but for most customers, it will be imperceptible, he said.
“To a significant degree, consumers will not notice that this has been introduced at all,” he added.
The biggest grocers have reassured consumers that the grocery code of conduct will not lead to higher food prices.
“The code now is fair, and it will not lead to higher prices,” Loblaw CEO Per Bank said in May last year.
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“Given that the retailers are saying it’s not going to be inflationary, my expectation is we won’t see this affecting food prices significantly,” von Massow said.
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