44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 6, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/6/22 2:31:47 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, he should have said “thanks to the NDP” that these measures are in place to actually help Canadians, but there are just pretty words from the Prime Minister when it comes to helping Canadians through this “greedflation” crisis.
The CEOs of big grocery stores are bragging about their massive profits on the backs of families. The Empire CEO bragged “we improved them”, and he is $8 million richer. Galen Weston of Loblaws is proud of achieving strong top-line growth. He has $5 million more. These CEOs line their pockets while families struggle to feed their kids.
When will the Liberals act to stop this profiteering and stop this corporate greed?
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- Oct/6/22 4:35:45 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this Thanksgiving weekend, Canadian families will be getting together from coast to coast to coast. They will be getting around the table in my community of New Westminster—Burnaby and in many other communities. They will be joining together to sit down to have the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but for so many of those families they will be eating a lot less or a lower quality of food than they have in previous years because of the impact of greedflation on those families. That is why the NDP has put forward this motion today.
The motion directs the government, through the House of Commons, to ensure that we are tackling the corporate greed that is taking place in the grocery sector, which includes asking the Competition Bureau to launch an investigation of grocery chain profits, increasing penalties for price fixing as we have seen in the grocery industry and in other sectors, and strengthening competition laws to prohibit companies from abusing their dominant positions in the market. We are also calling upon the government to support the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in investigating high food prices. That was a motion brought forward by the member for Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. It was successfully adopted yesterday.
Also, we are directing the government through this motion to force CEOs and big corporations to pay what they owe. The estimate for last year alone was that over $30 billion in tax money, taken to overseas tax havens with impunity or through a variety of tax loopholes, was not paid. That is on the existing tax rate. It is $30 billion that was essentially taken from Canadians, so this motion directs the government to take action and force the CEOs and big corporations to pay those amounts. We are presenting this motion today, but the vote in the House will be taking place after the Thanksgiving break that we will be taking in our constituencies.
If the Canadian public want their members of Parliament to vote for this motion, if they believe that the type of greedflation we are seeing, with companies gouging Canadian families at a time when they are struggling the most, should not be, then they should urge their members of Parliament by sending an email, making a phone call or catching up with them at events next week. They should tell them to vote for the NDP motion as they want to see the House of Commons direct the government to take action in those areas.
Through you, Madam Speaker, I ask Canadians to do that in the coming week and make sure that their members of Parliament are held accountable for the greedflation, the increased costs that are happening right now as a result of corporate greed. I will come back to that in just a moment.
We have a responsibility to direct the government and to urge it to put an end to tax havens, which are costing us $30 billion a year. It is imperative that the Competition Bureau investigate the extent of the price increases. Companies took advantage of inflation to increase their profits and the bonuses of CEOs. We are asking that the investigation launched by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food also have the support of this government.
I am appealing to all Canadians who agree with this proposal and agree that the House of Commons direct the government to do what it has avoided for years but which is becoming increasingly necessary in this time of crisis. I invite them to contact their MPs in the next few days and weeks and ask them to vote in favour of this motion. The vote on this motion will be held the week after next, which is a constituency week.
The vote will take place the following week.
Canadians will hopefully be speaking in the coming days and letting their members of Parliament know that they should be voting for these important measures the NDP is proposing.
I would like to say that there is no doubt that these measures need to be taken. Canadian families are paying more and more for food, yet, at the same time, as so many of my colleagues have mentioned, we are seeing skyrocketing profits from the big grocery chains.
For the CEO of Sobeys, for example, to go after the NDP after what we have seen with Sobeys and the increase in profits and, of course, an increase in his bonus as well, for him to attack the NDP for bringing this subject forward rather than accept that what he is doing, the kind of unfortunate profiteering that is taking place when families are struggling so desperately, shows how disconnected the CEO of Sobeys is from the reality that Canadian families are facing.
A quarter of Canadian families are struggling to put food on the table. Fifty per cent, half of Canadian families, are within a couple of hundred dollars of insolvency, yet we have the Sobeys CEO saying, “Oh gosh, we want our increased profits. We want our bonuses. The NDP should not be raising this issue in the House of Commons.” Quite frankly, that shows a disconnect that is profoundly disturbing and should be for Sobeys' shareholders as well.
This is a company that is paying executive bonuses but has eliminated the hero pay. We had frontline workers during COVID who, at great cost to themselves, showing great courage, stepped forward to make sure that the food stores were open, that the grocery stores were open, so that we could get those essential foods, even at the height of the pandemic. As we know, they were doing this at risk to themselves and risk to their families, and that modest hero bonus that the NDP pushed for, and that the companies grudgingly decided to put into place, was promptly revoked, even though COVID is still present and even though there continues to be a risk.
This is why, I think, Canadians have been so exercised by what they see: companies and company CEOs bragging about increased profits at a time when families are struggling so much.
As we well know, the food bank lineups have doubled over the past few years. What we have seen is more and more Canadian families struggling to keep a roof over their heads. We are seeing more and more homeless. That is why the NDP has been pushing so strongly for measures that help to counter that crisis.
The first real NDP bill in this Parliament is the NDP bill that brings dental care for families with children 12 and under and allows for that expansion of dental care in the following year to seniors and people with disabilities and, in the final year, to all families who have modest incomes of less than $90,000.
These are the kinds of measures that make such a big difference. It is the NDP and the member for Burnaby South, our leader, and the terrific member for Vancouver Kingsway, who is our health care critic, who have led the charge of putting in place the dental care program that will help so many families. That initial payment is going to make a big difference. It will mean that children who would not otherwise have access to dental care will have access. It will then expand into a program that provides supports right across the spectrum.
Ultimately, it means that, in each and every riding, 30,000 Canadians are going to benefit. In each riding, on average, about 30,000 Canadians will benefit from the NDP's initiative. The NDP pushed in that regard. I certainly thank the member for Burnaby South and the member for Vancouver Kingsway for doing that on behalf of all Canadians.
The housing benefit and the NDP drive to get affordable housing in place, something we have not seen in half a century, which has contributed enormously to the crisis that is growing across the length and breadth of our country, that, again, is an NDP initiative.
The member for Burnaby South pushed for months the idea that the GST credit, the GST rebate, needed to be doubled to provide immediate supports for Canadian families, and a benefit that will reach 12 million Canadians has just been passed by this House. Thankfully all parties in all four corners of this House agreed that this was a priority, but it was NDP-inspired and NDP-pushed.
These are the kinds of things that we believe need to happen to benefit people, where we stay focused on the needs of people right across this country: the need for affordable housing, the need for an expanded health care system, including dental care, the need for money in Canadians' pockets at a time when we are seeing costs increase, and the need for a federal government to no longer say to the CEOs that they can do whatever they want, but rather a federal government that bolsters the type of legislation that would ensure that the Competition Bureau can play its role and crack down on price fixing, on profiteering and on corporate greed.
These are the responsibilities that we in a civil society give to our government, to those who were elected to represent us. We do not elect people to support the banks and the corporate CEOs. They have enough tools at their disposal. The great progress of government is to counteract that, so there is a level playing field on which all Canadians can benefit.
This brings me to my point. The member for Carleton, a little earlier today, said something to the effect that the NDP is identifying greed in the private sector that is really hurting Canadians, but that we did not know anything about government greed. Quite frankly, I found that a bit insulting, because I lived through the dismal decade of the Harper government. There is no better example of government greed than the 10 years that we lived under Stephen Harper.
I will just recall the facts. What we saw under the Stephen Harper government that the member for Carleton was such a close part of and obviously wants to replay was a dismal decade. I would say to all Canadians that he will replay that dismal decade over my body, because there is no way we are going to see what the Harper government did to our institutions happen again. If the member for Carleton wants to replay that, he will have a reckoning with New Democrats. We will be standing up against that at all times.
That decade of government greed saw unprecedented handouts to the banking sector, unprecedented handouts to the oil and gas sector, and unprecedented handouts to lobbyists. We can recall there was $116 billion in liquidity supports given to banks, because they needed to maintain their profits. With the signature of all these agreements with overseas tax havens, the ability of those taxes to be paid by everybody collapsed under the Harper government. The meaningful, real tax rate for corporations fell into the single digits. Can members imagine that? It was in single digits.
In terms of the corporate sector paying its taxes, well, with all of the overseas tax haven treaties that were signed by the Harper government, we simply saw a complete collapse of the tax system for the ultrarich and for big corporations. They did not have to worry anymore, because the Harper government, with its greed, was more interested in giving money to them than to regular Canadians.
What did it do for regular Canadians? We saw that; we were in the House as the Harper government gutted pensions, as it ripped them away, as 65- and 66-year-olds were told no, they did not have a pension anymore and were not eligible for a pension. I was in the House when it was in Centre Block. I recall speaking for 14 hours as I received emails and texts from Canadians from coast to coast to coast, talking about what it meant to them.
Carpet layers who had worked all their life and whose health was suffering were being told by the Harper Conservatives and the member for Carleton that they could not retire and would have to keep working because they were not going to be given a pension. How did that impact them or the people who were engaged in physical labour? I gather there are not too many Conservatives who have been engaged in physical labour. I worked in a factory for many years, and I can say that when people are reaching that stage of decades of intense physical work, sometimes they cannot keep working for a few more years because of the greed of the Harper Conservatives. We saw that. We saw cutbacks in everything, all kinds of supports, including housing.
Of course, the most egregious cutbacks were made by the Harper Conservatives because they were so greedy about giving money to lobbyists, oil and gas CEOs and the banks. They even stripped the health care system. Tragically, the Liberals today have never restored that funding, so a pox on both their houses. They stripped all of that away. Therefore, when the member for Carleton says that we do not know about government greed, I say Canadians lived that first-hand for a decade, and we are not going to live it again. The NDP is still pushing to rebuild the institutions that were gutted by that government greed, by the government saying that what mattered was the ultrarich, overseas tax havens, massive handouts to oil and gas CEOs and the banks.
Canadians did not matter to the Harper government or to the member for Carleton, and we all remember that. It is very important that we never forget that. We cannot let the gang that was around Stephen Harper, with all of the impacts that had for regular Canadians, and we cannot let the greed of the government result in massive handouts to its friends, the ultrarich and the lobbyists, rather than providing supports for pensioners and for the carpet layers who have worked for decades and whose bodies are no longer able to continue that intense physical work. Stephen Harper and the member for Carleton ripped that pension away from them. We will not forget that.
We are seeing a very similar approach from the CEOs. We see the current Liberal government maintaining those health care cuts, but we also see that network of overseas tax havens that have now cost us $30 billion last year in money that could have gone to support seniors. It could have supported access to post-secondary education. It could have supported housing. It could have been invested in the health care system to expand it so that, as the member for Burnaby South likes to say, it really provides coverage from the tops of our heads to the tips of our toes. Those are all things that the $30 billion could have provided support for, as well as good Canadian jobs. It could have made a difference with respect to a whole range of things.
This is why we say that when the Liberals and Conservatives claim there is no money for something, it is quite a different story when it comes to the banks, the CEOs and the oil and gas companies. Then the spigot is turned on and the federal government largesse has no limits.
We differ in this corner of the House. I think part of the reason we are seeing the NDP rising in the polls is that Canadians perceive there is one leader in this House, the member for Burnaby South, and one caucus in this House, the NDP, that are fighting for regular people each and every day. That includes when the grocery chains stand up and say they want to have record profits, record bonuses and increased prices, but are not batting an eye with respect to how Canadian families are struggling. In this corner of the House, those families have strong allies who will not stop fighting. We are bringing this motion today because we are standing for Canadian families. I hope it receives support from everybody.
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Madam Speaker, it is absolutely essential that Bill C-31 pass. As I mentioned earlier, each MP in the House of Commons has 30,000 constituents who would benefit from our putting in place dental care. That is each MP. If members of Parliament are really listening to their constituents, they will vote yes for this first phase, and they will vote yes for the subsequent phases, so we have dental care in this country from coast to coast to coast for all families who need it. That is fundamentally important.
The other thing he asked me was what more the government can do. The government can close the tax loopholes established by both the Paul Martin government and the Stephen Harper government. They could stop the hemorrhaging of $30 billion each and every year and $25 billion previous to that. Stopping that hemorrhaging means funding for hospitals. It means funding for schools. It means funding for jobs. It means funding for the clean energy transition I know the member for Timmins—James Bay is such a champion of. It would make a difference for all Canadians, so our next direction and what we have been saying to the Liberal government is to stop the hemorrhaging to overseas tax havens.
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- Oct/6/22 4:59:38 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, there is so much rich material here. First off, where does one go for a job? One goes to British Columbia, because the B.C. NDP government has the best track record of economic growth and jobs in the entire country by far, and much better than Alberta and Saskatchewan. If members are asking where their constituents should go, they should go to an NDP province. That is where the jobs are being created.
Secondly, on dental care, in Prince Albert there are 30,000 people who need dental care. Why does the member not vote for his constituents and vote in favour of the dental care bill?
Finally, and as I said, there is so much rich material but I only have a few seconds, there is the impact on producers of this concentration of grocery chains. It would be great to have MPs stand up against what we are seeing with this concentration, which impacts producers in Saskatchewan, but not a single Saskatchewan MP will stand up for Saskatchewan producers. That will change in the next election—
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- Oct/6/22 5:01:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, indeed, thanks to the NDP, the government is now taking action on GST rebates. That will benefit the people of Quebec as well as people across Canada. Thanks to the NDP, the government is now forced to deal with the housing issue. After 50 years, it is finally looking into the affordable housing issue. It will offer support to tenants. Thanks to the NDP, the government is taking measures to expand our health system and establish a dental care program.
It is thanks to the NDP that all these things are happening. The question, therefore, is rather why the other parties are not doing anything to help ordinary Canadians.
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- Oct/6/22 5:03:10 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I really want to praise the member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith. She is a new member, but she has done such an effective job of standing up for her constituents. Nanaimo—Ladysmith is better represented than it has been in years because she is so outspoken. She has pushed for dental care, for ensuring we have housing supplements and for the GST rebate. These are all important measures that she has helped to bring about, and I want to compliment her on her amazing work.
The reality is that in Nanaimo—Ladysmith, and in fact throughout this country and across Vancouver Island, we are seeing grocery chains raising prices more than they should be. Yes, there is inflation, but it is very clear that we need a government that can step in and say, “Whoa. They have these huge bonuses, they have these huge profits and Canadian families are struggling. There needs to be a balance here.”
That is why we are calling on the Competition Bureau to launch an investigation, with enhanced supports from the federal government. We really need much more robust Competition Bureau legislation to ensure that these kinds of things do not happen anymore.
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- Oct/6/22 5:05:40 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, of course, in the oil and gas sector, we have seen price gouging play out continuously. As the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives revealed in a study it did about oil and gas price gouging in this country, the reality is that oil and gas companies increase the price on old stock whenever there is an international event. We have certainly seen this with the deplorable Russian invasion of Ukraine. The oil and gas companies profiteered and benefited by raising the price on old stock. We know as well that as the new stock comes in at a lower price, they will keep the prices high.
This is the price gouging the member should be speaking out against, because it has an impact on his constituents. However, the reality is that the Conservatives—
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- Oct/6/22 5:28:06 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, this is an important issue. Canadians need to know how MPs stand and that vote will be taken after the Thanksgiving break, so I would ask for a recorded division.
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