The BC Green Party has launched a campaign against Vancouver-based billionaire Jim Pattison and his companies after the party learned that one of his properties is slated to be used as a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility.
Specifically, BC Greens leader Emily Lowan is calling for a mass boycott of all Jim Pattison owned businesses.
For Vancouver Island communities, Pattison-owned businesses include Save-On-Foods, Quality Foods, Western Family-branded food products, all Pattison dealerships and local radio stations such as The Zone @ 91-3, 100.3 The Q!.
“With the several recent events, the effect of public executions that we’ve seen at the hands of ICE, Canadians need to be elbows up and take a stand to have Jim Pattison cancel his deal with ICE,” Lowan told Victoria Buzz.
“It’s morally reprehensible to have any remote ties to this fascist force.”
The warehouse in question is located in Hanover County, Virginia, and Lowan says that this Wednesday, January 28th, a decision will be made by local authorities whether the site will become an ICE processing facility.
Lowan is demanding that Jim Pattison refuses to allow his property to be used by ICE.
In order to help her message go far and wide, the BC Greens leader turned to the power of social media.
(More below)
View this post on Instagram
This post has gotten over one million views, 25,000 likes and 6,000 shares on Instagram alone.
Furthermore, Lowan said the post helped prompt a group of Virginians to start a petition and protest against having ICE in the Pattison-owned warehouse in their community.
Lowan’s idea for an alternative to oligarch-owned grocery stores
Jim Pattison owns over 500 grocery stores in Canada, and managed to double his net worth through the COVID-19 pandemic to nearly $12 billion, making him the 10th wealthiest man in the country.
Lowan says that between Pattison-owned grocery stores, those owned by Loblaws and Empire Company Ltd., who own Sobeys and Thrifty Foods, Canadians are being price gouged in the name of profit.
“In many communities, Pattison has an effective monopoly on grocery stores—there are simply no other options,” she said.
“So I think a lot of people are now realizing this broader issue of having one billionaire who owns the food supply.”
She says a solution to this matter could be publically-owned grocers who would serve the community not in the name of profits, but to help guide competitive practices which would force Pattison, Loblaws and Empire grocers to bring prices down.
“It would undercut local monopolies, help strengthen local agriculture and tangibly make our lives more affordable.
Victoria Buzz reached out to the Jim Pattison Group for comment, seeking to find out if they plan on cutting ties with ICE, but did not receive a response by publication.
Likewise, Lowan said that the BC Greens attempted to contact the Pattison Group to no avail.
