Grocery watchers want ground rules

TORONTO — Independent grocers have approached the Competition Bureau to ask for a code of conduct to guide the increasingly fraught relationship between retailers and suppliers. Looking to precedents, in Britain and Australia, where the market is similarly dominated by a few big players, the smaller grocers are hoping that federal intervention can bring some tranquility to a crowded retail field. Tensions warmed up last year when Sobeys acquired Western Canada’s Safeway stores, immediately demanding retroactive price breaks from suppliers. Ottawa has already introduced codes of conduct for wireless and credit card providers, Report on Business notes in The Globe & Mail.