44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 6, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/6/22 10:23:05 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, let me take this opportunity to triple, triple, triple congratulate my NDP colleague for his work. It is incredible. This is exactly what a member of Parliament should do.
My extraordinary NDP colleague has three wins here. First, there is this opposition motion that will actually affect people's lives and make a difference with practical solutions by looking at the situation concerning the cost of groceries for families and workers who are struggling. Also, the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food will conduct an investigation on what is happening with the large grocery chains. Finally, I congratulate my colleague on his outstanding speech, which I will try to address in a worthy manner. That is exactly what member does to defend the people he represents, namely his constituents, who are struggling right now. I think we should all be inspired by the work my colleague has done.
We are facing a real problem right now. The cost of living is going up everywhere. Whether we are talking about the rising prices of gas, housing or groceries, some people are taking advantage to line their pockets. This is particularly unfair in a situation where there are so many people struggling to pay their bills and make ends meet. I find it particularly egregious that multinationals, big corporations and CEOs are taking advantage of human suffering to get rich. They are taking advantage of the fact that people are struggling to get even richer than they already are.
For those who are progressive, men and women from the left like us, this is absolutely unacceptable. We want a society based on justice and social justice where everyone can live in dignity and where some are not literally being eaten up by others.
Here are a few important figures for today’s debate. According to Statistics Canada, the inflation rate for groceries reached 11% in August, while the general inflation rate was 7%. If the general inflation rate for the cost of energy, transportation and raw materials is at 7%, but at the grocery store the costs are rising by 11%, there seems to be a discrepancy. Someone is profiting, somewhere. We are talking 11% on average. The inflation rate for some foods like fruits is 13%; for meat, it is 25%; and for pasta, it is 32%. Who is profiting?
Empire Company, which owns Sobeys, Safeway and IGA, saw net profits soar by 27% between 2020 and 2022. In one year, Loblaws saw its profits rise by 17% between 2021 and 2022. That is significant. Loblaws is owned by the Weston family, one of the richest families in Canada. I will remind members of the gift the Liberal government gave the Weston family: Under some sort of program, the Liberals purchased new fridges they then donated to the Weston family for Loblaws.
It is not just the NDP saying that there are people who are lining their pockets and profiting from the inflationary situation right now. Bruno Larue, a professor in the Agri-Food Economics and Consumer Sciences Department at Université Laval, said the following: “Of course, when inflation is very high, as it is right now, there are businesses who take advantage of it to raise their prices even more”. The operating margins of these big grocery chains are increasing in a completely abusive way. Professor Larue went on to say, “Clearly, there are those who profit all along the way.”
It is quite clear, thank you. This is undisputable evidence that there are indeed people who are taking advantage of the situation. In particular, the CEO of Sobeys comes to mind. In one year, in 2022, he personally pocketed $8.6 million. That is shameful. He is not alone: Metro’s CEO pocketed $5 million and Loblaws’ CEO $5.4 million.
Meanwhile, there are people who call us and knock on the door of our constituency offices to say they cannot pay their rent and buy groceries. They are asking who they can go see. Right now we are seeing a dramatic increase in the number of people who are working but need food aid because they are unable to pay for their groceries.
The billionaires and the ultrarich are profiting while people struggle. I find that disgusting and appalling. I am proud that we are able to debate the NDP’s motion today to see what we can do, as a government and as a country, to put forward concrete solutions so we can help people and resolve this problem.
We need to stop this greed inflation. We scratched our heads a bit to try to translate the term “greed inflation” to French. The word “greed” means cupidity, avarice and the desire to keep everything for oneself to the detriment of others. We therefore found a reference that we think some of our colleagues will like. In French, we should call this “séraphinflation”.
It is reminiscent of Séraphin, the loathsome man from Belles histoires des pays d'en haut who used to say, “Damn, Donalda, this costs a fortune”. Well, there are Séraphins at the helm of these big corporations and grocery stores, and they are stuffing their pockets. Let us call this phenomenon by its real name and a Quebec cultural reference: “séraphinflation”.
What can we, as parliamentarians and elected representatives, do to combat this avarice, this greed?
My NDP colleague put forward some solutions. We could specifically increase taxes on these excess profits, amend the Competition Act and give the Competition Bureau more powers. It is important to go get the money where the money is right now, and right now we can find it in the big corporations, where CEOs are getting rich at the expense of the people.
However, grocery stores are not alone in this. My colleague pointed this out earlier. It is incredible that only yesterday, the boss of Shell, the big oil company, was calling on the government to increase taxes on oil companies. Even the Shell boss realizes that it does not make sense. These companies are making ludicrous profits while people are struggling to make ends meet and make it to the end of the month.
The Shell boss was echoing a call from UN Secretary-General António Guterres to raise taxes on the windfall profits of big oil and gas companies, a suggestion the Liberal government's Minister of the Environment was quick to shut down.
António Guterres said that perhaps the oil companies should pay their fair share and even more, but the Minister of the Environment was telling us that there is no problem, that his government will leave things as is, and that this is something we should not do. One week later, he was contradicted by Shell's CEO, who claims to support this solution and thinks it is a good idea.
Unfortunately, we have a Liberal government that, for years, has not dared to tackle tax havens, tax evasion, and the fact that there are so many tax loopholes that the money is slipping through our fingers and is no longer there to fund important programs for people. It is estimated that over the past few years, we have collectively lost $30 billion as a result of Liberal inaction. They do not want to tackle this system that, in the words of Alain Deneault, is a “legalized scam”, when we could have the means to keep this money here, at home, in our coffers, to improve the collective good and fund programs that help people.
We need more education transfers, more money in our universities. We have students in debt and blatant housing problems. We need social housing, affordable housing, housing co-operatives. The needs are great in our society.
Unfortunately, we have a government that is sitting on its hands. It says it wishes it could do something; it taxes a boat here, a private plane there. It is all a smokescreen, however, and nothing really changes. All this is done at the expense of ordinary Canadians, the people we represent, when we should be working together to make it easier for them to access medication and dental care, and for the elderly to have enough income to age with dignity.
This is the debate we must have today and every day in Parliament: How do we create a fair society where everyone has a place and where everyone can live with dignity?
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- Oct/6/22 10:34:39 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about greed inflation. I prefer to call it unjust inflation. I think that is more appropriate. Right now, all Canadians are feeling the rising cost of absolutely everything.
I wonder why my colleague and the other members of his costly coalition chose to vote against the recent opposition motion calling on the government not to raise taxes on all Canadians, when every Canadian needs more money in their pockets.
Why does the NDP support raising taxes and the government's decision to triple the carbon tax? That is the real question.
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- Oct/6/22 11:04:02 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, whether it is the grocery code of conduct that the Minister of Agriculture is working with industry to be able to move forward or whether it is putting excess profit taxes as we have on the banking sector, there are a number of ways in which this government is able to move to make sure there is equity in how we tax Canadians and to ask Canadians who have more means to give a bit more to help support public programs that matter for all.
I know my ideological viewpoint may not completely align with that of the member opposite. As I have said in my remarks, I would like us to have an investigation before we simply put forward an assertion that there is complete corporate greed in this country. Let us examine the facts. Let us go before the committee before we simply make those allegations in the House.
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- Oct/6/22 11:50:40 a.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, Canadians deserve answers. We deserve to learn why corporate greed is protected while Canadians pay more for food. This motion is a way to try to get some of those answers.
Does the member agree that the agriculture committee should call the CEOs of the major grocery chains to come and explain their excessive profits?
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- 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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- Oct/6/22 12:21:26 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is clear that this issue is complex. There are many different factors that we need to be looking at.
However, in response to the member's question, I will quote from an article about Jim Stanford, an economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, who says that when people spend more on shopping, it inflates supermarket profits. This is “acting as a kind of trickle-up economics and transferring wealth from the poorest to the richest.
“The inflation we're seeing ‘wasn't caused by wages,’ Stanford said, or by workers. ‘It's caused by greed.’”
This is why this motion is so important. We need to look at what is happening, look at the greedflation that is happening around us and finally start having those who are profiting off the backs of Canadians pay their fair share.
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- Oct/6/22 1:51:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, as I mentioned in my remarks earlier this morning, I have concerns with the way the text of the motion is reading. It is almost like the inquisition has already happened, there is absolutely corporate greed and there is price-fixing in the grocery market here in Canada.
I asked a question of some members of the House about whether Canadians were buying more groceries from the grocery market as opposed to going to restaurants. Maybe the high number of pharmaceuticals that were being bought during the pandemic or the fact that some retailers, such as Sobeys, Loblaws and others, were helping administer vaccines could help account for some of the corporate profit and higher prices we have seen.
Does my hon. colleague think that this particular question might be a little more nuanced than the NDP is putting in the motion today?
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- Oct/6/22 2:30:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, with rising prices, people are being squeezed, and they are having trouble making ends meet at the end of the month. Big bosses are profiting off human suffering to line their own pockets, and that sickens me.
The CEO of Sobeys makes $8 million, the CEO of Metro makes $5 million, and the CEO of Loblaws also makes $5 million. These profits are up 17% to 27%.
PWhile people are being forced to cut back on their food purchases, the Liberals are letting big companies get rich at the expense of ordinary Canadians.
Will the Liberals take action to stop “greedflation” and rein in the greed of large grocery chains?
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- 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 3:46:25 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his question.
Surely no one could oppose a motion that denounces greed. I wonder, however, whether it needs to go a little further. We know that Canadian companies managed to hide $381 billion in 12 tax havens this year. We know that tax avoidance goes relatively unpunished by Ottawa.
I know it is more dramatic to talk about retail and grocery store profits, but I would like to know what my colleague thinks about going further and looking at tax havens.
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