The National Post reports in its Wednesday, Feb. 7, edition that accusations of profiteering in the Canadian grocery industry are unfounded and unsubstantiated, witnesses told a House of Commons committee studying food prices on Tuesday. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post reports that Dalhousie University food researcher Sylvain Charlebois told MPs, "We must put the profiteering debate to rest," while profits at the so-called Big Three grocers -- Loblaw, Empire and Metro -- have risen in nominal dollars, their gross margins have remained constant for more than five years. Karl Littler, senior vice-president of public affairs for the Retail Council of Canada, told MPs that grocers have very little to do with food inflation, and that "the overwhelming portion of the run-off in food prices occurs earlier in the supply chain at the producer and processor level." This is not to blame producers or processors, he added, but rather to point out that globally rising costs of feed, fuel and fertilizer as well as higher interest rates and labour costs are being passed along the supply chain. "We face recurring attempts to portray grocers as cartoon villains," said Mr. Littler.