- Member of Parliament
- Member of Parliament
- NDP
- Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie
- Quebec
- Voting Attendance: 64%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $114,314.06
- Government Page
- Oct/26/23 2:52:08 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people should be able to feed themselves and their children. That is a basic need. Right now, thousands of people are no longer able to do that.
Every month, 872,000 Quebeckers access food banks. That is one in 10 people. The Minister of Industry's spineless approach is pathetic. Grovelling before grocery CEOs and begging them to stabilize prices is not going to work. That is why the NDP is bringing the CEOs of the big grocery chains back before MPs so we can keep them accountable.
Will the Liberals force grocery stores to act, or will they just keep sending up prayers?
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Madam Speaker, I would like to share a story. There are are four grocery stores just a block away from where I live. One of them is a major chain store, like the oligopolies my colleague is talking about. Another one is a small independent grocery store owned by a Portuguese family. All their children work there. Strangely enough, the prices at the small independent store are sometimes half of what the chain store charges. Inflation, however, supposedly affects everyone equally. There has to be something wrong with the logic of the major grocery chains.
I would like to know what my colleague thinks when the Liberals, half-heartedly and almost on bended knee, beg these huge oligopolies to stabilize prices. What is the use of stabilizing prices when prices are already too high and people are going without food?
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- Sep/18/23 2:55:13 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, all summer long we heard about how people cannot afford groceries. Prices are skyrocketing. Grocery chains are making record profits, and CEOs are cashing in big time. What did the Liberals do about it? They held a meeting. They told those CEOs to be nice or else. Or else what? What a joke.
The NDP leader is going to introduce a bill to give the Competition Bureau real teeth. It is a real, practical solution.
When will the Liberals take action to help people put food on the table?
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- Mar/9/23 2:30:09 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the NDP forced the CEOs of three major grocery chains to finally explain themselves. However, instead of giving clear answers, the big bosses served up platitudes to justify filling their pockets on the backs of families. They never committed to transparency. Worse, they now want to adopt a code of conduct to regulate prices in their stores themselves. The fox is in charge of the henhouse.
When will the Liberals strengthen the powers of the Competition Bureau to ensure that people are not fleeced by these greedy billionaires?
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- Oct/31/22 2:28:34 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while CEOs of grocery store chains fill their pockets, ordinary people are being forced to choose between paying rent or buying groceries. One in five people are skipping one meal a day to lower their grocery bill, and demand for food banks is through the roof. That is what it has come to.
The Liberals have allowed corporate greed to force families to make impossible choices. People are hungry, but the CEOs do not care.
In their economic statement, will the Liberals finally make wealthy CEOs pay what they owe to the public, or do they also not care?
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- Oct/27/22 2:27:54 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, people are going hungry in our country right now. That is shameful in a country as rich as ours.
Today's annual report from Food Banks Canada shows that food bank use is at an all-time high. In a single month, there were 1.5 million visits. People are going without, but the Liberals refuse to stand up to the CEOs of the major grocery chains and make them pay what they owe us.
When will the Liberals do something about the corporate greed that is keeping families from feeding their children?
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- Oct/17/22 2:29:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, to the best of my knowledge, oil is not a renewable resource.
While many people are struggling to pay for groceries, we have learned that Loblaws plans to freeze prices on its “No Name” products. It is a nice gesture, but it comes after months of inflation, months of seeing our families struggle. The Liberals have allowed the CEOs of these large corporations to get rich off the backs of Canadians for far too long.
The NDP has brought forward some concrete solutions to support families and make these rich CEOs pay their fair share. Will the Liberals tackle this “greedflation” by voting in favour of the measures the NDP is proposing 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 10:37:34 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague on why it is so important to fight tax havens, but here is where we part ways. The Bloc Québécois will never be in power, but we might be. It is entirely possible—more possible, anyway.
It is true that both Liberals and Conservatives have for years failed to take action on tax havens. It is a perennial problem. Barbados alone is sheltering $80 billion Canadian. What about the Cayman Islands? Believe it or not, there are more companies registered in the Cayman Islands than there are people who live there. Either they are very entrepreneurial people, or the system is not working at all.
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Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight. The Conservative Party sees premiums as a tax. An EI premium is insurance in the event of a loss of employment. A pension plan premium is an investment for the future. We will need this money when we are older. There is a world of difference between the two concepts. It is important to tell the truth.
We are taking action to help people. We forced the Liberals to pay for dental care for children under the age of 12. This year, families could receive $1,300 per child. We forced the Liberals to double the GST credit. These two measures are in Bill C-30 and Bill C-31. People will be able to get between $250 and $500 starting this year. These are real measures that the NDP is putting forward. We forced the Liberals to put them in place, and they will provide people with practical support.
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- Oct/6/22 10:33:55 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I agree that this is an important debate, especially since the NDP brought it to the House.
We would not have brought it forward if we did not think it was important for people, for our society. We took that initiative. It is true, we are sending a message with this debate. We are telling them that we are watching and that we are keeping an eye on them. Then there needs to be action. That is the second part.
We are setting the stage, bringing up the problem and analyzing the situation. After that, we want an investigation by the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. We are also asking the Competition Bureau to investigate. Then, there must be regulatory, fiscal and legislative action to ensure that these situations do not happen again.
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- 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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- Sep/27/22 2:50:26 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, if the Liberals agree, they just need to do it and have the guts to take on big oil.
The cost of groceries is skyrocketing. CEOs are raking in record profits and lining their pockets. Last year, the head of Sobeys earned over $8 million. Instead of raising employees' wages or lowering prices, he took away their bonuses. The nerve.
The NDP wants to see a parliamentary committee look into how corporate greed is driving up the cost of groceries. Does the government think it is okay for wealthy CEOs to pad their pockets by making families in Quebec and Canada empty theirs?
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- Sep/26/22 2:31:05 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, the price of groceries is skyrocketing. The price of bread is up 15%, fruit is up 13% and pasta is up 32%. Even a bag of potatoes costs $8.
Families have to tighten their belts. In the meantime, the three major grocery chains are making $3.5 billion. That is $3,500 million. There is no question that grocery prices are increasing because CEOs want to make more profit.
What is the government doing? Nothing. What are the Conservatives calling for? That the government not interfere. Why are the Liberals protecting CEOs' pockets instead of families' pockets?
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- May/19/22 2:28:37 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, last month, inflation hit a 31-year high at 6.8%. Meanwhile, wages increased by an average of just 3.3%. I doubt anyone needs a diagram to understand the resulting decrease in purchasing power.
The worst part is that while the big chains are making hundreds of millions of dollars in profits, everyone's grocery bills are going up by 9%. More and more families are turning to food banks.
When will the Liberals tax the excessive profits of big grocery stores and oil companies?
When will they double the GST tax credit?
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