Walmart and Costco have become important participants in the Canadian Food Retail Code of Conduct and have agreed to join the agreement.

Federal, provincial, and territorial agriculture ministers announced on Thursday that all major retailers, including Walmart and Costco, have agreed to join the Canadian Food Retail Industry Code of Conduct, but these two companies have not yet formally signed the agreement.

The statement reads: "After years of effort and extensive industry participation, we are pleased to announce that all major retailers have agreed to join the Food Retail Industry Code of Conduct."

This includes Loblaw, Sobeys, and Metro, as well as the recent Walmart and Costco. This is a positive step towards bringing more fairness, transparency, and predictability to Canada's food and grocery supply chain and consumers.

Canada's Food Retail Industry Code of Conduct aims to set standards for transactions between suppliers and food retailers to address the issue of large food retailers charging fees to suppliers, a problem that first gained attention in 2020.

Last year, executives from Walmart and Loblaw stated that they would not sign the agreement, fearing cost increases which brought the agreement into crisis. Empire CEO Michael Medline has been advocating for the code of conduct and in December stated that it would be "a sad day for Canadians and the entire industry" if other major retailers did not sign the code.

In February of this year, the Canadian parliamentary committee studying food prices told Loblaw and Walmart that if they did not sign, the committee would recommend making the regulation a law.

After six months of negotiations, Loblaw agreed to sign the code of conduct in May. The company stated that while the basic principles of the code remained unchanged, they worked with the committee and interim board responsible for drafting the agreement to provide the clarity that was lacking last time. CEO Per Bank told Canadian Press, "The code is now fair and will not lead to price increases."

Canadian Minister of Industry François-Philippe Champagne said that the Food Retail Industry Code of Conduct "will help to increase the strength and resilience of Canada's supply chain." On Thursday, Champagne called Walmart and Costco joining the code of conduct "a major step forward in fairness and transparency."