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Within weeks of the coronavirus pandemic being declared, one premier after another made tough promises to stop the price cut on essential products. However, CBC’s Market learned that despite tens of thousands of reported complaints, little legal action has been taken across the country.
Market reached all provinces and territories and was told that consumer complaints to the government led to the indictment of only one company. It is unclear how many allegations, if any, were brought by local law officers.
A company in Alberta that sells personal protective equipment at high prices – $ 39 for hand sanitizer and $ 120 for masks – received multiple written warnings and orders for lower prices before being formally charged by the Alberta service for failing to comply. the order of a director under the Consumer Protection Act. The company pleaded guilty in September and was fined $ 1,500.
This, despite the harsh speeches of a number of prime ministers.
“We have put in place restrictions on price cuts,” BC Premier John Horgan announced in May.
“We will follow you and throw the book at you,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said in April.
“You are done, you are gone … If you are convicted, you may face … a year in prison,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said in March.
Every province, with the exception of Quebec and New Brunswick, has a law that prohibits price scam. But these laws simply state that sellers cannot sell goods at prices that “grossly” exceed market prices. There is no federal, provincial, or territorial law in Canada that restricts price markups on consumer goods during a state of emergency.
Many states in the United States have such legislation. For example, in California, the prices of products and services cannot increase by more than 10% once an emergency is declared. Kansas limits price increases to 25%.
The provinces confirmed that most of the complaints received for the price reduction related to personal protective equipment and other essential products such as disinfectant wipes, toilet paper and paper towels.
Data collected by Statistics Canada for Market shows that the price of disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer and toilet paper had reached above-average prices during the pandemic.
WATCH | What happened to the promised crackdown on the price scam in the event of a pandemic?
Canadians have complained for months about pandemic-induced price scams for all kinds of essential products, from hand sanitizer to toilet paper, but Marketplace found that there has been hardly any legal action taken by the government despite the promise of repression. 2:00 am
April saw the biggest price spikes for toilet paper, the product that made headlines around the world when people started piling it up. Prices averaged $ 9.41 for 12 rolls. The price has since returned to normal averages, around $ 6.70.
The average price of hand sanitizer rose in May, nearly $ 3 more than in previous years. June showed that the price of hand sanitizer had dropped, but still above average.
Since March, the average price of 35 disinfectant wipes has been over $ 3. Before March, the price averaged about $ 2.43 per pack.
No charges in the Ontario investigation
Ontario received the highest number of price scam complaints – around 29,500 – after a campaign to promote the province’s price scam hotline.
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To date, Ontario has referred approximately 900 of these complaints to law enforcement. Market he contacted all the police services to which the province said it had forwarded the complaints. Each service confirmed that no charges had been made.
Alberta and BC, which received the highest number of complaints since Ontario, as well as Ontario would not confirm criteria for reporting complaints for further investigation by law enforcement or special task forces.
In a statement, Ontario said revealing that the benchmark could jeopardize the investigation. Alberta and BC cited the difficulty in determining what a reduction in prices actually is and what a reasonable change in costs is due to the current market.
The police said Market that most of the complaints were unfounded or resulted in a warning to the company, which then lowered the price of the products in question.
In written statements a Market, both Alberta and BC’s consumer protection agencies wrote that the priority is to educate and advise businesses to encourage voluntary compliance. That would also avoid months of unnecessary investigation, the Alberta Ministry of Service wrote.
Ontario also said it sent 1,650 notification letters to businesses and took “decisive action” against overpriced retailers.
Manufacturer says the price of some hand sanitizers is ‘obscene’
Paul Kowdrysh, president and CEO of Protair-X Solutions Group, a manufacturer of hand sanitizers, said he had to raise prices by about 23% due to cost increases. This lowered his profit margin, he said.
“I don’t think, in a time of need and a time of crisis, that you have to make the same margin as you did in the past,” he said.
Market showed Kowdrysh more hand sanitizers for sale during the pandemic.
Kowdrysh called a 500ml bottle being sold by a Guardian Pharmacy for $ 19.99 “obscene.”
“It’s extremely expensive for that size of the product,” he said. Guardian Pharmacy said Market the price was the result of the scarcity at that time.
Kowdrysh prices were inflated at Nation’s in Toronto – a liter sold for $ 34.99.
“I’m very surprised,” he said. “This is unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.”
Kowdrysh said Market he subsequently stopped selling to the distributor who said his products were too expensive.
Market contacted Nations to sell its product at such a margin and the company said the higher prices were a result of products that were difficult to acquire and maintain profit margins.
Rising prices for paper napkins
Statistics Canada confirmed that in April 2020 the average price of a six-roll pack of paper towels rose to its highest price – $ 9.54 – at least since January 2017, when the average price was $ 5.69.
For small businesses, these increases could be detrimental.
Saga, a Calgary-based tattoo artist who has only one name, could pay thousands of dollars more a year just for paper napkins.
“I do a lot of colorful tattoos, really great tattoos,” Saga said. “So in one day, sometimes I can use three, sometimes six whole rolls of blotting paper.”
Heather Ashley, who shops for Saga supplies, said Market who had to shop around a lot more. “One day I actually had to go to three separate stores,” he said. “The exact same amount of paper towels … a six-pack … ranged from $ 6.99 and up to $ 16.99.”
Mendoza, owner of Grapevine Tattoo in Vancouver, also known by a single name, is also concerned about the price increases of the products. Just before the pandemic, he was buying masks for his artists for pennies per mask. when Market spoke to him in May, prices hovered around a dollar per mask.
Mendoza estimates that rising costs in masks, hand sanitizer, plexiglass and other pandemic essentials will add $ 10,000 to $ 20,000 to its annual operating costs.
“It costs more for everyone to do their jobs,” he said. “It was definitely a big shock to the system.”
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