Canada’s Competition Commissioner got an earful Thursday in a meeting with independent grocers, who fear for their survival under a pending mega-merger of giants Loblaw Cos. Ltd. and Shoppers Drug Mart Corp.

Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers president Tom Barlow said he told John Pecman that smaller food retailers could go out of business under the plan, which will give big grocers 90 per cent control of the industry compared to the current 80 per cent.

“We told him we need the government to pay more attention to Main Street, not just Bay Street,” he said.

“I think he understands our side of it,” said Barlow.

He figures the competition bureau will at least make changes to the deal as it did in its approval Tuesday of the Sobeys Inc. takeover of Canada Safeway Ltd.

Ottawa ordered Sobeys to sell off 23 stores to preserve competition in certain markets in western Canada.

Barlow was “disappointed” though that the deal got regulatory clearance. He plans to put pressure next on Industry Minister James Moore in hopes of nixing the controversial $12.4 billion merger that would blend one of Canada’s biggest grocers with the country’s largest pharmacy chain.

Lately Ottawa seems more concerned about credit card and wireless fees rather than focusing on the essentials like groceries, said Barlow.

“You get a choice of which credit card or wireless company you use. You don’t really get a choice on putting food on the table,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Convenience Store Association predicts Shoppers stores will look “more like mini-Loblaws stores” once the takeover is completed, since the drugstores will likely expand further on its food offerings with the popular President’s Choice brand.

“They’re trying to encroach themselves on what is our turf essentially,” said association president Alex Scholten

“It’s a big threat to the industry,” said Scholten, whose group represents half of the 23,000 convenience stores across Canada.

The convenience store group’s latest state-of-the-industry report bemoans the worrisome trend of “channel-blurring” in grocery retail, which sees big box stores and drugstores going further into the non-traditional territory of food.

Variety store owners will have to offer products and services at a reasonable rate to keep customers coming back, considering the big players are getting bigger in the retail grocery game.

“Those convenience store retailers who don’t remain competitive will go out of business,” Scholten said, adding the stores that offer freshly prepared food on site will do much better than the mom and pop stores that don’t.

“We are selling convenience – which is time-saving – and we have the asset of proximity” to customers, which gives variety stores a leg up on giants Shoppers and Walmart, he noted.

Under the deal announced in July, the Shoppers brand name will be kept in place and operate as a separate division of Loblaw.

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The proposed takeover was approved last month by the required two-thirds majority of Shoppers shareholders and now awaits regulatory approval.

Loblaw and Shoppers did not respond to The Star’s requests for comment.