'A very aggressive strategy': Loblaws announces price freeze on all No Name products until end of January

As inflation continues to send grocery bills spiralling, Canadian grocery giant Loblaws announced a price freeze on all No Name products until the end of January.

The price freeze covers more than 1,500 grocery items.

Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Halifax's Dalhousie University who researches food distribution, security and safety, says the move is long overdue, adding more needs to be done to help Canadians.

"It's three-and-a-half months, and three-and-a-half months in food distribution is an eternity," he said. "So, you've got to give it to Loblaws for deploying what I would consider a very aggressive strategy."

Members of a community kitchen and food bank in Sydney, N.S., say the Loblaws price freeze is enough to make them change their shopping habits.

"Oh, that's awesome. Because we buy in bulk. We go through the flyers like anybody else," said Marco Amati, the general manager at Loaves and Fishes. "Anything that's under that brand, if it's cheaper than the other brands, we'll buy it."

The federal NDP leader says the move is a result of pressure. Jagmeet Singh adds, while it's a start, it's still not enough.

"We've seen in G7 nations around the world that other sectors have moved more quickly to freeze prices or to bring down prices," said Singh.

"It's proving our point that grocery stores are actually actively able to set prices, and governments should play a role in stopping greed from driving up the costs of food, and stepping in to provide support for families."

"I think the most interesting question is, 'What are Sobeys and Metro going to do?'" asked Charlebois.

Charlebois says if competing grocery chains are going to offer something similar, this would be the week to do it.

He also points out that in making the move they did, Loblaws has something to gain.

"I think it's going to help the sector's image, because grocers have been, they've been destroyed on social media for months now. A lot of people think that grocers are profiteering. So, they needed to do something about this," he said.

CTV News reached out to Sobeys for comment on Monday but did not hear back by publication time.