Toronto mayor, local councillors look to ban surveillance pricing in city

'No one should have a different price based on who you are': Chow

What's surveillance pricing and why is Toronto looking to ban it?

Toronto's mayor is introducing a motion to ban surveillance pricing for groceries and other essentials, a practice where businesses adjust what they charge customers based on their personal data.

"No one should have a different price based on who you are," Chow said at a news conference before Tuesday's executive committee meeting at city hall. "That’s just not fair."

Chow moved to direct city staff to look for all possible ways Toronto can "ban and regulate surveillance pricing that increases prices on groceries, including those sold online and delivered within the city," and report back next year.

"We will fight the rising costs of groceries and protect Torontonians from being gouged by corporate giants looking to maximize their profit on the backs of regular people," she said, adding that many Torontonians are already struggling to afford the cost of living.

Coun. Alejandra Bravo, who seconded Chow's motion, said using consumer data to maximize the profit companies can extract from each individual customer is "predatory pricing."

Practice doesn't 'exist in grocery': Loblaw spokesperson

CBC Toronto reached out to some major grocers to ask for their stance on surveillance pricing.

"Surveillance pricing has created concerns, but it does not exist in grocery," Loblaw Companies spokesperson Youmna Rab told CBC Toronto in an email Tuesday.

"If a grocery retailer appears to profit from timing, weather, demand spikes, or customer urgency, trust would erode immediately," Rab said.

The statement went on to say customers' trust is worth "far more" than any temporary pricing gain.

"At Loblaw, we can tell you, we will never use this type of pricing — on shelf labels or on our e-commerce websites or otherwise," Rab added.

Premier against ban, says free market keeps costs low

Other levels of government have recently considered the issue, including Manitoba, which is currently looking at making "personalized algorithmic pricing" an unfair business practice.

Conversely, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said earlier this year that he was against banning algorithmic personalized pricing, saying he believes in a free-market, capitalist society, and competition is the best way to keep prices low.

An Ontario NDP motion to ban surveillance pricing was voted down in April, shortly after Ford's comments.

Are you paying more than your neighbour? It could be 'surveillance pricing'

Can surveillance pricing be stopped? - Transcript

The federal NDP introduced a similarly unsuccessful motion this spring to ban the practice online and in retail stores.

Weeks later, the initial draft of the federal AI strategy, though light on details, said Canada will strengthen privacy laws to ensure "personal information is not used inappropriately, including for surveillance pricing."

Ethan Lang is a reporter for CBC Toronto. Ethan has also worked in Whitehorse, where he covered the Yukon Legislative Assembly, and Halifax, where he wrote on housing and forestry for the Halifax Examiner.

With files from The Canadian Press