Price-fixing bread: Maple Leaf refutes claims ahead of attempt to add it to suit [Video]

Maple Leaf Foods asserted its innocence in an alleged bread price-fixing scheme ahead of a hearing to determine whether it will be added to an ongoing class-action lawsuit.

In a statement Wednesday, Maple Leaf said any claims that it participated in the alleged conspiracy are false.

When the class-action lawsuit was originally certified in an Ontario court in 2021 against several grocery retailers and other food companies, Maple Leaf was not included.

However, the plaintiffs are set to argue in a hearing scheduled on Thursday that Maple Leaf should be added as a defendant in the lawsuit because of its ownership of Canada Bread.

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Canada Bread was fined by the bureau in 2023 after admitting to four counts of price-fixing, but has argued as part of the class-action lawsuit that Maple Leaf, which was …