Grupo Bimbo, now the owner of Canada Bread Co., is suing Maple Leaf Foods over price-fixing bread.
Canada Bread paid a $50-million fine to Revenue Canada when it admitted that the company was involved in price-fixing.
But now Canada Bread is accusing senior executives of Maple Leaf Foods for the price-fixing scam.
That would presumably include then-president and chief executive officer Michael McCain.
Remember him, the guy who said when his father bought control of Maple Leaf Foods, that he would bury the Ontario pork marketing board which existed to protect farmers from corporate buyers?
Canada Bread’s parent company, Mexico-based Grupo Bimbo, has previously said that it was unaware of the company’s role in fixing bread prices before its $1.83-billion acquisition in 2014, and was unaware of the details of the price-fixing arrangements until the Bureau’s investigation became public in 2017.
In June of 2023, the company pleaded guilty to the criminal scheme, acknowledging that Canada Bread made “arrangements” with one or more senior executives at competitor Weston Foods leading to two wholesale price increases in 2007 and 2011.
In a court filing on Thursday, Canada Bread argued that it is entitled to damages from Maple Leaf related to that investigation, including the fine; further damages for “breach of contract,” “fraudulent misrepresentation” and “unjust enrichment”; as well as any damages that may arise from an ongoing class-action lawsuit related to the alleged scheme.
But Canada Bread is arguing that it is not liable to the plaintiffs in that lawsuit because, “until May of 2014, Maple Leaf – then the company’s controlling shareholder – exercised control over the affairs and activities” of Canada Bread.
In its amended statement of defence and crossclaim related to the class action, which was filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on Thursday, Canada Bread alleged that it was “a victim of a scheme conceived by Maple Leaf” to use it as a “shield” for unlawful conduct.
“Maple Leaf, through its personnel acting as senior officers or members of the Board of Directors controlling and directing Canada Bread, knew or ought to have known of any anticompetitive conduct by Canada Bread,” the company stated in the court document.
