SoVote

Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Oct/6/22 10:21:22 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I have the pleasure of working with him at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Let me start by gently correcting my colleague when he states that the NDP is the only party to advocate for taxing companies that made record profits in the past year. The Bloc Québécois has also talked of taxing companies whose profits exceed $1 billion. However, that is a small detail. On the substance of the motion, I would like to give my colleague the opportunity to tell me about the importance of the work being done right now to establish a grocery code of conduct to prevent unfair practices by the big players in that sector.

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Oct/6/22 11:22:36 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his speech. I would like the House to get down to business, to work like the mature adults we are supposed to be, rather than to repeat slogans and idiocies all day. With respect to the carbon tax, is my colleague aware that the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food is currently working intelligently to create exemptions where necessary, but that, overall, the carbon tax is necessary? There has to be a price on pollution if we are to take a different path. My colleague mentioned the increase in the price of coffee in his speech as if it were a terrible thing. Is he aware that analysts are predicting that the price of coffee will not only remain high, but that, like chocolate, it will become the luxury product it once was? That is not because of the big bad Liberals, the big bad NDP and others, it is because of global warming. Is he aware of the aphid problems in our crops this year caused by global warming? Can we please get down to business and work on climate change?

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Oct/6/22 11:40:32 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I will begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with my very esteemed colleague from Joliette. I first want to thank my colleague from Cowichan—Malahat—Langford for raising this very important matter in the House, as the price of groceries is a concern for many of our constituents. We see that food inflation is higher than inflation in general. Naturally, there are some distinctions to be made. I will refer to what my colleague from Kings—Hants said earlier about that. That will also touch on the question that I asked the Leader of the Opposition earlier. It would be good if we could try to work diligently and not take a populist attitude one way or the other. As I just said, the motion is important. The Bloc Québécois supports it. I believe that this is an issue that we must deal with. It is why, when we talked about it yesterday, we approved the motion. For those who perhaps were not here earlier, I am informing the House that this issue will be studied thoroughly at the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. I have to say that the changes I wanted to make by amending the motion yesterday were not intended to block the motion, but only to avoid drawing any conclusions about the study before the study is actually done. I find myself facing a similar problem this morning. It is the new fashion in the House to pun on the word “inflation”. There is one pun I cannot mention because it contains the Prime Minister's first name, but there are others, like “greedflation”. There will probably be three or four more by the end of the week. Puns do not solve our problems, and neither does repeating the same word three times 45 times a day. I do not see what that will do in the House, apart from lowering the tone of debate. However, studying this issue and looking into the huge profits being made right now by the major agri-food distributors will have an effect. It is an important issue, and that is why the Bloc Québécois will support the motion. However, it needs to be done in a smart way. My colleague who moved the motion referred to this earlier, saying that if he is drawing attention to the matter, that means that there is a real issue. The Retail Council of Canada wrote to us to say that we should be careful how we deal with the matter, and I do not think that these people are illiterate. We are all for examining the question, but let us do so properly. That is what we are being asked to do, and I think that it is also our duty as elected members. I have no bias one way or another. I am biased in favour of the less fortunate, who are having a hard time buying groceries right now. I will try not to get upset, but there are a lot of people in this House who say a lot but do not do anything. They are not getting anything done. Why has old age security still not been increased for seniors starting at age 65? The 338 members of the House are well aware of the insanely high prices in grocery stores these days. We are privileged to earn a good salary, so it does not bother us too much, but when I go to the grocery store, I think about ordinary people who are also paying income tax. I think about the constant audits of ordinary citizens. I just want the House to know that people in long-term care facilities are getting audited. They are asked to submit the receipt from the facility. They submit the receipt, but that is not enough: Now they need a report filled out by their doctor to prove that they need to be in a long-term care facility. The next word that comes to mind is unparliamentary, but I am speaking as a caregiver. However, let us move on. In the meantime, nothing is being done about tax havens. We are talking about billions of dollars each year. We have been condemning this for years. Why are we not doing anything about tax havens? We could at least try to recoup half the money, or a quarter, something like that. Then the government could redistribute the money to the poorest citizens. Once again, let us do this the smart way. Is it really smart to pass a bill that proposes a $650 dental benefit even if a family will only be charged $100? The money will indeed be redistributed to families, but will dental care really be improved? That is what I am urging us to do as members of Parliament. We must be rigorous and wise. We must also be aware that inflation is widespread for a number of reasons. COVID-19 has destabilized supply chains. Transportation costs have exploded exponentially. There is a labour shortage that is completely mind-boggling. We are talking about food, so let us talk about it. People are complaining that food is expensive. However, this government is preventing farmers from working because it cannot be bothered to approve visas for foreign workers. It stubbornly insists on redoing labour market impact assessments even though Quebec has already done them. Those assessments take eight, 10, 12 months. In the meantime, crops stay in the ground. They end up being plowed under. Asparagus fields are being mowed down because the workers have not arrived, not because they do not want to come, not because there are no workers, not because the farmers failed to plan a year in advance, but because the government is incompetent when it comes to approving these visas. Obviously, food costs more because of all that. It is not just the fault of the big bad grocery stores, although that is part of it. We know that 80% of the retail market is controlled by five companies. It is a real problem. Various groups have been bringing this to our attention for several years. That is why an effort is currently being made to establish a grocery code of conduct as a way to prevent abusive practices. For instance, a large retailer may require a small supplier to supply a certain amount or it will no longer purchase from that supplier. The small supplier supplies the amount requested, but if that amount does not sell, the retailer often demands that the supplier reimburse it and come collect its merchandise. Is that fair? I do not think so. Are all corporate executives bad apples? I do not think so. That is why we need to stay objective. That is why the study in committee will be essential. I pledge to study this issue carefully, with one goal in mind, namely to protect our constituents from runaway inflation. I will ensure that people will not have to choose between groceries, drugs and gas. Everybody here needs to wake up and see the light. I spoke about this earlier when I was asking the Leader of the Opposition a question. I say “see the light” because some people here are in the dark. If they need a light, I can get them one. I am talking about climate change. We are experiencing droughts, flooding and increasingly violent winds. There were extremely violent winds this spring in Quebec. These may not be the kinds of major disasters that make the headlines for three weeks at a time, but hundred-year-old maple stands were destroyed. How long will it take to replace them? It will take a hundred years. A shortage of products is inevitable. This year, vegetable growers are dealing with an epidemic of aphids, which are not usually an issue with vegetable crops. Normally, they are a problem for soybean farmers. Because of climate change and warmer-than-normal air currents, harvests have deteriorated. This will result in further losses, as fruits and vegetables remain in the fields. Last spring, I spoke about bees. Record numbers of bees have died because of climate warming. The colony-killing parasite had more time to reproduce and cause more damage. The government needs to smarten up and do something about climate change. I wish people would stop telling me that we need to eliminate the taxes aimed at fighting climate change. I will repeat what I said to my Conservative colleague: We can be smart about this and make exceptions. Grain drying could be exempt, for example, because there is no alternative. The government is capable of being smart. Let us all be smart. Let us take action. We are going to study the issue of grocery prices. If we uncover any abuse, we will have to get tough.

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron

Oct/6/22 11:51:13 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Nunavut for her question. We certainly do agree that we need to examine the issue in depth and call witnesses. I would like to take this opportunity to say publicly that I love the sound of my colleague's language when she speaks it. I encourage her to use it more often. I said that we agree. However, when I am told that we need to condemn greed on the part of major corporations, I say that we should study the matter first, before we decide whether they have in fact been greedy. Of course, there is always greed in the capitalist system. We need to find out if there is any abuse happening. I think that there probably is, but I do not want to go out on a limb today, because I have not yet examined the matter.

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron

Oct/6/22 11:53:59 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his intervention. Yes, that is our goal. That is why I am saying that we need to do a serious study. We have a certain number of meetings planned, and we can hold more as needed. I think it is our duty to do things intelligently and identify the sources of this inflation. I said it in my speech, but I want to repeat that we must help the people who are less privileged right now by providing some money so they can deal with the impacts of inflation, because it could take us quite a while to complete our analysis and take action, and in the meantime, people need to eat.

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron

Oct/6/22 11:55:19 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, acting wisely in Parliament would mean not repeating the same stupid nonsense three times in every speech. It would also mean—

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron

Oct/6/22 11:56:09 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am very sorry if the member felt personally offended. My intention was to speak out against the fact that people have been saying the same thing over and over for days. In my view, that does not contribute to the debate. I did not intend to attack him personally. I hope that clears things up. That said, acting wisely might also mean not taking the populist tack of arguing for an end to all taxes. Mr. Luc Berthold: Oh, oh! Mr. Yves Perron: Mr. Speaker, I would like it if people could hear our answers to questions. I think I did that properly. The Speaker may want to check what I said and let me know if I followed the rules of the House. Acting wisely means considering all aspects of a debate, listening to what other people have to say, and using government money to help the less fortunate. We have to find the equilibrium there.

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Context: House Hansard - 109 - Oct/6/22

Mr. Yves Perron (Berthier—Maskinongé, BQ)

Oct/6/22 2:03:57 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the Louiseville buckwheat pancake festival is back in its entirety this year, and the 43rd edition is in full swing, making the Mauricie region and all of Quebec proud. It started out as a meal put on for those in need known as the “souper des gueux”, or supper for the poor, with a menu consisting of buckwheat pancakes, roast pork, cretons and hash browns. Who would have thought that a meal for the poor would grow into such a rich tradition? President André Auger and his energetic team have created a fantastic event that brings together people from all over Quebec and beyond. I invite everyone to enjoy our diverse programming. Come join us for the many shows by local artists, the super bingo, the live auction and the historical parade, and get to know our miller and our people and discover our region and its history. Hurray for buckwheat country.

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