#vertical integration

“The $3 Billion Empire Of Garfield Weston: How It Screws You,” The Manitoban. October 27 1970. --- One giant company controls 30% of the food sold in Canada. Here is a look at this empire and its creator. [A 1970 history of the Weston empire, centred on Loblaw’s. Galen Weston Jr., grandson of Garfield, is still in charge, and you’re no doubt aware, if you’re Canadian, of the price fixing scandal or Galen being hauled before Parliament about food prices. The Westons are top tier capitalist scumbags, and have been for generations - and their wealth and power has only grown, even if many of the companies listed here are long defunct fifty years later]

Found at: https://digitalcollections.lib.umanitoba.ca/.../uofm...

by Ed Reed   Dear Sir: Ensconced in rustic luxury in a castle at Ballymore Eustace, County Kildare in Ireland lives the man who controls 30 per cent of the food sold in Canada and has a pervasive influence over the lives of Canadians. 

W. Garfield Weston is a Canadian born multi-millionaire who in addition to controlling an expensive food processing conglomerate operating in Canada, the U.S., Britain, France, West Germany, Australia, and South Africa also has a huge number of diverse industrial sidelines. These make him the head of the largest business ever assembled in Canada and a member of the world financial elite. 

Garfield Weston and his nine children have a financial worth of about 5½ billion.

The Weston empire is the fifth largest merchandiser in the world. It is second in sales among the world's merchandisers and is third in annual profits. 

In Canada, Weston operates under the aegis of George Weston Ltd. Last year Weston's had assets of $297,000,000 with sales of $729,889,000. For the first half of 1970 the company has had a net income of $7,133,000 as compared to $6,966,000 for the same period last year. 

In Britain where Weston is even bigger than in Canada the holding company for the Weston interests is Associated British Foods. The company's statistics for last year show just how large it is: sales: $1,207,174,000; net profit: $21,950,000: assets: $530,438,000; and employees: 107,323. 

The annual sales of the world-wide behemoth. are something over $3 billion. 

In Canada the extent of George Weston Ltd., controlled by Garfield Weston is staggering. It has extensive interests in food-processing, wholesale and retail food sale, drugs, pulp and paper, fisheries, manufacturing, chemicals, trucking and insurance. In some fields it controls all phases of manufacture, distribution, wholesale and retail. This allows it to take huge rake-offs for profits. 

Among the Canadian firms that George Weston Ltd. controls (in most cases with ownership approaching 100 per cent) are: Loblaws, Weston Bakeries Ltd., Eddy Paper Co., Westfair Ltd., B.C. Packers Ltd., Sommerville Industries, William Neilson Ltd.. Willards Choclate Co. Ltd., Paulin Chambers, McCormicks's Ltd., Western Grocers and Nabob Foods Ltd. 

This is but a brief list of Garfield Weston's Canadian holdings and includes only some of the most important branches of the Weston corporate tree. There are many more that could be added. 

What is particularly significant about the Weston operation particularly to Manitoba is the domination of the retail food industry. Not only does Weston produce and process food it also distributes it through wholesale and retail interests which it also owns. 

This vertical integration in the food industry makes it impossible for the consumer to get a fair break. The domination which Garfield Weston exercises is pervasive and insures that food prices will stay high and large profits will accrue to the Weston empire. 

Just how pervasive the Weston influence is in Manitoba can be seen by taking a look at the large segment of the food industry controlled by Weston's. 

Weston's owns Western Groceries, the large local wholesaler and distributer. It also owns the following chain stores operating within the province: Loblaws, Shop-Easy, Tomboy, Mini-Mart, Econo/Mart. Red and White, and Lucky Dollar.

Also operating within the borders of Manitoba are Paulin Chambers, (biscuits), McCormick's (biscuits), Weston Bakery (bread). Sommerville Industries (cartons), E.B. Eddy Co. (paper). William Neilson Ltd. (candy), Dominion Fruit (fruit), and Nabob Foods (assorted foods). 

Last January, Weston quietly bought control. of Soo Line Mills, a large local milling firm, formerly owned by prominent Winipegger Sol Kanee. The purchase price was over $1 million cash. 

Weston's also controls Display Fixtures (Man) Ltd. which specializes in equipping the interiors of stores. 

The effect of Garfield Weston's empire is indeed pervasive in this province and has drawn attack at least one source. 

The National Farmers Union published a broadsheet during the bakery-workers strike this summer accusing Weston's of importing bread from the United States for sale in its chain stores in an attempt to break the strike. The Farmers Union urged consumers to boycott Weston-owned stores until the strike was settled and demanded "George Weston Ltd. cease importing bread for its chain stores and manufacturing milk for its chocolate factories." It accused Weston's of "exploiting its Canadian employees" and "depriving Canadian farmers of a legitimate domestic market" by not settling the lengthy strike. 

The broadsheet listed sixty of the member firms in the Weston conglomerate and concluded with this cogent analysis: 

"The North American economy is dominated by five or six hundred giant corporations-monopolies which set their own prices, generate their own capital, and dominate our political structures without any reference to the social, economic, and cultural needs of the people. 

"F. George Weston Ltd. is an integral part of this inhuman system. 

"George Weston Ltd. is a corporate octopus responsible to nobody but itself."

"Can the people of Canada get a fair break when they have to deal with a corporate giant?" 

The Farmer Union points out, rightly, the very size of the Weston conglomerate makes it next to impossible to get food and other products at a fair price. Because the market is dominated by a few 'corporate giants' such as George Weston Ltd., a price structure is established which is impossible to crack. 

Also, the control of the various stages of production and distribution gives George Weston a stranglehold on the consumer. 

Take for example the progress of a simple can of jam produced by the Weston complex of companies. 

The fruit for the jam might be supplied by Dominion Fruit and delivered to the W.H. Malkin plant by one of the trucking companies Weston owns. At the plant the fruit might be kept in a Universal Freezer.  After the jam has been made it is put in a can with a label that might be made by the Eddy Paper Co. The can of jam if then sent to the wholesaler, Western Grocers packed in a carton made by Sommerville Industries of paper made by Eddy Paper Co. Our can of jam might then end it its journey on the shelve of a Loblaw store or a Mini-Mart. 

The control that Weston has over food and food-related industries is phenomenal and counter productive to the best interests of the consumer. 

The man behind this vast oligopoly is something of an enigma and a recluse. He is an extreme conservative, a staunch defender of South African apartheid and of course a very powerful man. 

Willard Garfield Weston was born 72 years ago above the Toronto bake store owned by his father, George Weston. Weston took over his father's bakery in 1922 and soon had increased its profits four-fold. 

He established George Weston Ltd. in 1928 and showed first-year profits of $168,000. These were soon to escalate dramatically as Weston expanded his corporate web over the face of the earth. 

Weston proved to be an astute capitalist and bucked the trend of the Depression by buying up businesses (mainly bakeries), converting them to mass-production and reaping large profits, 

In 1935, Weston expanded his operations again and established a beach-head in Britain. with the help of a $1 million loan from Wall St. brokers. He began to buy up English bakeries at a great rate. Employing modern production methods he sold English-type biscuits to the English at half the price of established bakeries, 

"I deal in bread and dreams" Weston said, and idealized his expansion as "a great romantic adventure". 

Totally devoted to the process of building a world-wide industrial empire, Weston moved his base of operations from Toronto to London. Of this empire he is quoted as saying: "nothing will exist in the world to compare with it." 

An English associate described Weston's love for business thus: 

"He gets as much basic and romance from a balance sheet as a conductor can get from reading a score in silence." 

England proved fertile ground for Weston. He has gained control of a large segment of the confectionery market and owns over 1000 grocery stores. He gained ownership of the most prestigious English food department store Fortnum and Mason (patronized by members of the Royal Family) in a manner that illustrates the labyrinthine methods of high finance. 

"I just woke up one morning and I had it" Weston said in explaining that he didn't know. exactly how he had gained control of the store. which he described as "the jewel of my crown." 

Weston was elected as a Conservative to the British House of Commons in 1939 even though he has never renounced his Canadian citizenship. During the Second War as a demonstration of largesse he gave a $400,000-cheque to the British Government for the replacement of a number of Spitfires that had been shot down. 

However Weston's enchantment with Britain lasted only as long as it provided good pickings for him. In 1968 when Britain was in dire financial straits Weston sold several businesses and pulled $40,000,000 out of the country saying, "England is in terrible shape, it would have been ridiculous to leave the money there." So much for good corporate citizenship. 

As well as his extensive holdings in Canada and Britain, Garfield also does a large amount of business in other nations. 

Loblaws and National Tea Co., for example, provide him a substantial power base in the U.S. Weston also has interests in the Caribbean and Latin America (coconuts in Jamaica and gold-mining in the British Honduras for example). He also has huge baking firms in Australia. He moved into France in 1963 at the invitation of the French Finance Minister and began building supermarkets.

However it is the example of Weston's relations with South Africa that is perhaps most instructive about the character of the man and his empire. He owns the South African Milling Co. Ltd., the biggest baking company in the country, which employs more than 6,000, the majority of whom are black and underpaid.

Weston's attitude to these workers and to social equality in general is reflected in this 1964 statement:

"Let's get this straight, this was never a black country. It's ridiculous to try to force South Africa through the United Nations to give the vote to millions of colored men whose morals are not ours and whose Christian ethics are completely absent.

“....believe me every black pickaninny or black mama can call on the government for the solution to any social problem." 

An abortive boycott on Weston's stores was attempted in Canada after he made this statement. However this did not alter his outlook on apartheid nor did it deter him from supporting another racist nation by investing $700,000 in the Rhodesian beef industry in 1967. 

The operation of the Weston empire had always been a closed book to the public until a parliamentary committee in 1966 forced to reveal the extent of his Canadian operation. The size of Weston's holdings astounded even knowledgeable observers of the business world. Shareholders in George Weston Ltd. were surprised to see just how large their holding really was once the shroud of secrecy had been parted. 

It became more apparent at that time just what a profound influence the Weston conglomerate had on the Canadian buying public. 

In 1967, several MP's demanded that Weston be called before the Senate-Commons Committee on Consumer Prices to justify his vice-grip on the Canadian food industry. However the influential industrialist never did have to leave his cosy castle to explain himself to Parliament and the Canadian people. 

Weston comes only very occasionally to Canada despite his gigantic involvement in our economy. Business here is taken care of by Chart by Lawrie DePape George Weston Ltd. president George E. Creber who keeps things running smoothly. 

Weston has made at least one appearance in Canada this year, however. At the annual general meeting of George Weston in June, Weston, who is chairman of the company, addressed shareholders. (There are 4,991 holders of preferred stock and 7,861 common shareholders.) 

Aside from describing the rosy condition of the country. Weston talked of the importance of supporting the U.S. in its travails throughout the world. In explaining that the U.S. had to enter Cambodia he said: "the U.S. is carrying the burden of protecting us from Communism both around the world and within our own country. 

"We are honour-bound to stand behind that great country." 

Words of solidarity from one important imperialist to another. 

Weston has largely withdrawn from public life and taken sanctuary in his Irish castle from where he can keep a watchful eye on the progress of his empire. It is assumed that control of the conglomerate will eventually be turned over to its creator's sons Garry H. Weston and W. Galen Weston. 

The empire stands as an impressive monument to an undeniably talented man; unique in that he is a big-time Canadian industrialist still in control of his own company, a company doing business all over the world. 

However the empire of Garfield Weston also stands as a monument to the exploitation of the consumer and to the insatiable acquisitive greed of a man. 

But neither the man nor the empire can live forever; for sic transit gloria mundi.

Weston's Canadian companies

Armstrong Gimli Fisheries

Better Foods Inc.

British Columbia Packers 

Canadian Folding Cartons

Chess Bros. 

Coast Oyster Co. 

D.F.C. Inc. 

Display Fixtures 

Dominion Fruit 

Dr. Jackson's Foods 

E.B. Eddy Co. 

Eddy Paper

Empire Stamp & Distributing

Ensign Stores

Gateway Food Factors

G.J. Hamilton & Sons 

G. McLean 

H.A. Smith Packing

Independent Biscuit Co.

J.R. Booth 

Loblaw Companies

Loblaw Groceterias

Loblaw Inc.

Loblaw Leased Properties

Lucky Dollar Stores

Marvins Ltd.

McCormicks

Mini-Marts

National Biscuit & Confectionery

National Food Stores

National Laboratories

National Tea Co.

Newport Cereal Co.

Nu-Trend Food Stores

Orchard Pack Foods

OK Economy Stores

Pacific Coast Packers

Packers Steamship Co.

Paulin-Chambers

Perrin Investments

Red & White Stores

Rupert Fish Co.

Shelly Bros.

Shop-Easy Stores

So-Fresh Produce

Sommerville Automotive Trim

Sommerville Industries

Southern Biscuit Co.

Tomboy Stores

United Purity Stores

Western Canada Whaling Co.

Western Grocers

Westfair Foods

Weston Bakeries

 Weston Biscuit Co. 

W.H. Malkin

Willard Chocolates

William Neilson

William Paterson Co.

Econo-Mart. 

I mean, like 70 or so years ago we all collectively agreed to monopoly and vertical integration or film companies is very bad and the Paramount decree was passed.

Now after a relatively short period of time- we literally have people praising monopolies, arguing that their market domineering monopoly is a good and ethical one unlike the other bad and evil company.

What’s more, now even vertical integration which everybody used to deride as an unfair business practice is good again. Because hey, let’s face it even if Disney can’t own its own chain of cinemas, it still can own a company that possesses the majority shares in a corporation that has a stake at a firm that leases ground to an organisation that builds and runs cinemas.

dog of the week #42: tin from johnny and roxy defend the universe