Two Toronto Loblaw stores have been fined for mislabelling imported food as Canadian
How are we supposed to buy local under these conditions?
Tariff-conscious grocery shoppers rejoice: federal food regulators are cracking down on misleading “Made in Canada” stickers—and two Loblaw-owned stores are already facing hefty fines.
A Fortinos store on Queens Plate Drive in Etobicoke was fined $10,000 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency in January for slapping a maple leaf on a fancy cheese’s shelf tag, according to CBC News. In fact, the creamy Président-brand Rondelé spread in question was made in France—a land known for fine cheesemonging, true, but not a part of Canada.
That same month, the CFIA also whacked a Loblaw-owned Superstore in Toronto with its own $10,000 fine, this time for tagging a President’s Choice-brand broccoli slaw as a “product of Canada.” Its country of origin? The United States itself. The gall.
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These fines account for just under half of the $47,000 in penalties the agency has issued to retailers countrywide since April of 2025, according to a statement from the agency dated March 16. And they may not be the last: the CFIA appears to be generally losing patience with grocers who play fast and loose with their labelling, and is already hot on the trail of a Sobeys-owned Safeway in Edmonton that labelled imported avocado oil as Canadian-made.
Canada’s grocers were all too happy to hop on the “buy Canadian” train when US President Donald Trump first kicked off his trade war. If these fines keep coming, however, they may find there’s a cost to slapdash patriotism.
Anthony Milton is a freelance journalist based in Toronto specializing in long-form magazine writing. He previously worked as an assistant editor at Toronto Life, where he launched the Front Row newsletter. He regularly contributes all sorts of stories to the magazine, including deep dives on sports, business and housing as well as short-form commentary on our ever-changing city, from its obsession with cherry blossoms to its maddening NIMBYism. His work has also appeared in Maclean’s, Ricochet, TVO, the Trillium and more.
