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![\"ANDREW](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/4185847_web1_sobeyssign.jpg\")
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ANDREW VAUGHAN \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Manitoba is challenging contracts made by grocery giant Sobeys that prevents competitors from setting up shop nearby.<\/p>\n
Last year, the provincial government passed a law allowing for the removal of registered controls if the Municipal Board deems it in the public interest.<\/p>\n
The four cases span seven property controls: one each on Leila Avenue and Sage Creek Boulevard in Winnipeg, one on 18th Street in Brandon, and four covering different land parcels on 178 Provincial Trunk Highway 12 in Steinbach.<\/p>\n
The Steinbach restrictions extend into a farmer\u2019s field and across the street, Kinew said. No competition is allowed to open in the space.<\/p>\n
The Municipal Board decisions should take six to eight weeks, Kinew said.<\/p>\n
Manitoba is taking a phased approach to \u201cnot put too much pressure,\u201d on the board, Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu said.<\/p>\n
He hopes Sobeys will remove its other restrictions after the four cases are heard. Regardless, the government will fight \u201cevery single one\u201d of the remaining controls, Sandhu said.<\/p>\n
Sobeys \u2014 a subsidiary of Empire Co. Ltd., which also counts the Safeway, FreshCo and IGA chains under its banner \u2014 holds 43 property controls in the province. It\u2019s the last corporation to hold such covenants in Manitoba: others relinquished a collective 23 property controls since the law passed in June.<\/p>\n
The law also prohibits new restrictions or exclusivity clauses from being created.<\/p>\n
Sobeys\u2019s controls span 25 locations, the government said.<\/p>\n
Sandhu\u2019s office sent a letter in March to Pierre St-Laurent, president and CEO of Empire, offering to meet. Sandhu said he never heard back.<\/p>\n
Sobeys didn\u2019t respond to questions by end of day Thursday.<\/p>\n
Removing property controls will lead to greater competition over time, Kinew said: \u201cCompetition isn\u2019t going to rush in the following day \u2014 it\u2019s going to take some time for the business case to be built.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, one University of Saskatchewan agriculture and resource economics professor questioned whether more companies will appear, no matter the rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very low likelihood of any other grocery retailer coming in,\u201d said Stuart Smyth. \u201cThese companies have already figured out their economic efficiency models to say \u2018OK, we need one grocery store here.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The arrival of a new, large retailer \u2014 and dozens of stores \u2014 is likely the best way to increase competition and affect prices, Smyth said. The handful of established grocery chains isn\u2019t enough \u201cto be noticeable on households\u2019 weekly grocery purchases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sobeys may also have to break existing contracts and pay fines in order to relinquish property controls. This could be passed to the provincial government as a cost, Smyth said.<\/p>\n
A small food retailer in Brandon noted its grocery prices won\u2019t change with the end of property controls. Big-box stores get discounts on bulk orders; smaller shops don\u2019t have the volume and often pay higher prices for products, a representative said.<\/p>\n
Meantime, not all property controls are bad, said Gary Sands, a senior vice-president with the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are cases, in our view, where a property control is actually reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n
For example, small businesses that open in a plaza might negotiate so another grocer doesn\u2019t open in the strip. That\u2019s reasonable, Sands said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach case has to be looked at individually,\u201d he added. \u201cWe don\u2019t feel the Municipal Board has expertise and knowledge of the retail grocery industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, the federal Competition Bureau should handle property control cases, Sands said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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In Winnipeg, Frank Capasso hopes for a second grocery store in the Sage Creek area. Its population is set to grow as a new development \u2014 Sage North \u2014 opens. A Sobeys location at 50 Sage Creek Blvd. is the neighbourhood\u2019s only grocery option.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that we have more competition, because competition makes a difference in prices,\u201d said Capasso, president of the Sage Creek Residents\u2019 Association.<\/p>\n
Food prices in Manitoba jumped 4.9 per cent year-over-year last March. It beat the national average \u2014 a four per cent increase.<\/p>\n
Kinew and Sandhu pointed to other government measures, including freezing the price of a one-litre carton of milk and removing the PST from more grocery food, as efforts to reduce prices.<\/p>\n
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com<\/p>\n
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Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 Gabrielle Pich\u00e9 reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Reporter
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