Grupo Bimbo-owned Canada Bread is seeking damages against Maple Leaf Foods over a fine it incurred in a price-fixing case investigated by the country’s competition authority.

Canada Bread has filed a legal claim in an Ontario court against meat producer Maple Leaf Foods, which sold the business to Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo in 2014 before pricing irregularities emerged. Maple Leaf Foods is contesting the claim.

A C$50m ($36.8m today) fine was imposed on Canada Bread last year after the company pleaded guilty to four counts of price-fixing dating back more than a decade following a wider industry probe by the Competition Bureau of Canada, an investigation which is still ongoing.

“Canada Bread claims Maple Leaf used Canada Bread as a shield, causing Canada Bread to assume the liabilities of the wrongful conduct, to the benefit of Maple Leaf,” the Toronto-headquartered business said in a statement yesterday (12 September).

The company added it had filed a “Statement of Defence and Crossclaim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Maple Leaf Foods to hold it accountable for Canada Bread's damages”.

In the statement that did not include any direct management comments, the bakery business explained: “Canada Bread has brought this claim to hold Maple Leaf to account for any and all of its costs, expenses and damages resulting from such breaches, including those related to the Competition Bureau's investigation.

“Further, to the extent Canada Bread is liable to the plaintiffs in the class actions, this claim seeks compensation and indemnity from Maple Leaf.”

For its part, a line in the statement pertaining to Grupo Bimbo said the Mexican group “intends to hold accountable those responsible for its damages”.

Mississauga, Ontario-based Maple Leaf Foods has refuted the claims, responding via its senior vice president and general counsel Suzanne Hathaway.

“We reject these claims in their entirety,” she said.

“Maple Leaf Foods acted appropriately at all times, including with respect to making full, plain and true disclosure to Grupo Bimbo at the time of its acquisition of Canada Bread,” Hathaway said in a statement.

“The court ruled in 2021 that the plaintiffs had no valid legal claims against Maple Leaf Foods. That ruling stands today. We will continue to vigorously defend ourselves against these unfounded claims.”

In December 2017, Canadian food group Weston Foods and supermarket Loblaw, both subsidiaries of George Weston, announced their participation in what they described as an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” involving the coordination of retail and wholesale bread prices.