- Member of Parliament
- Member of the Board of Internal Economy
Deputy House leader of the government
- Liberal
- Kingston and the Islands
- Ontario
- Voting Attendance: 67%
- Expenses Last Quarter: $112,228.33
- Government Page
- Jun/3/24 8:56:36 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, in my opinion, I do not think that the vast majority of the profits are being made lower down on the supply chain. I think that what we are seeing, which is indicative of a market that has only a few players in it, is that it is the few players that are going to jack up their prices, because they can. If, farther down the supply chain there is a supplier of something, or there are 10 suppliers of something, because there are so many of them, they are going to be incentivized to ensure that they are being competitive. It is not the same scenario when there are only a few grocery retailers, which is what we have.
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- Jun/3/24 8:54:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do want to go back to the serious part of this. I did hear the member talking about the excess profit tax after World War II. I do not necessarily disagree with it, but I did not understand correctly whether that was in an industry that had monopoly-type practices like the one we are talking about right now, the grocery sector. Implementing a tax like that on a sector that does not have any kind of monopolistic practices associated with it and is operating in a more free market would not necessarily produce the same results. That, I guess, would be my concern.
I do think that we would have to be careful. It is easy to say that if they increase the prices, we will just increase the tax more, but where does that end? It could turn into a revolving cycle of just continually seeing prices going up, taxes going up and prices going up again. At the end of the day, there needs to be enough competition. I do not even hold it against the individual CEOs. They are doing what our capitalist market is intending them to do. When government needs to step in is when there is not free supply and demand, depending on how the prices are being met. That is when the government needs to be there, and I think that is a very important consideration.
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- Jun/3/24 8:41:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Milton.
Today, we are discussing a motion that was passed in committee and sent over to the House. It is a report specifically on excess profit tax on large grocery companies. It states:
Given that the Canadian grocery sector made more than $6 billion in profit in 2023 and that millions of Canadians have reported food insecurity in the last year, the Standing Committee on Finance call on the government to immediately take action by implementing an excess profit tax on large grocery companies that would put money back in the people's pocket with a GST rebate and establish a National School Food Program, and that this motion be reported to the House.
My understanding, based on going back and looking at the committee minutes, is that this was supported by all the Liberal, Bloc and NDP members on the committee. I think it is a really good motion.
I certainly agree with the motion, especially with the part on the national school food program. This is a program that has organically come from communities and from Canadians. I know I heard NDP members say earlier that this was their initiative. I actually do not think that it was. I think that this was an initiative that was born out of need, but also born out of what was already taking place in so many communities.
In the city of Kingston, we have the Food Sharing Project, which has been around since the eighties. Basically, it is a volunteer organization led by Andy Mills in Kingston. Every day, its members pack up food and send it out to schools.
One of the most interesting things that I found, and one of the reasons I thought this was an incredible program, was this. When I toured the program, I brought my children with me, Frankie and Vivian, who are seven and five. Frankie suddenly realized where the food was coming from that he would see in school.
I really thought the program was unique. What made this program so incredibly successful, and why the government needed to fund this program, was because it helps to break down stigmas and stereotypes. According to my children, it is not just the “poor kids” who have access to this food. As a matter of fact, according to my daughter, who is in senior kindergarten, there are often discussions about which piece of food or which granola bar they are going to get from the special snack station.
My point is that this is something that all kids look at and think is normal. It is not associated to or creating stereotypes that some kids need this food and others do not. I think that is incredibly powerful. At such an early age, children should be taught not to judge others based on their needs. That is why I supported this.
That is why when people from my community came to see me to really push the federal government to put this program into this particular budget, it was something that I worked with them on. I barely did anything, but my constituents went to all the schools, collected petitions and garnered support. They gave those petitions to me so I could present them to the House.
I imagine that similar things happened in communities throughout Canada. I really look at the national school food program as a grassroots program that has taken hold based on need, based on a desire to break down stereotypes, and based on treating all kids equally at such a young age. That is what we have.
The other part of this motion speaks specifically to an excess profit tax. I have been asked many times by my NDP colleagues how I feel about an excess profit tax. On the surface level, I have nothing against it. In particular, when we are dealing with an industry that has very few players, effectively we have a joint monopoly or an oligopoly, and they are basically setting prices. The grocery industry has been found guilty in the past of fixing prices. We remember the bread-fixing scheme that went on a number of years ago. Whether it is out of malice and is intended, or whether it just grows out of the lack of competition, it still happens.
Therefore, when we talk about an excess profit tax, and I know we talk about it from the oil industry perspective too, I am really intrigued by having the discussion, because I think it is one that is important to have, but I have a question and a concern. I tried to ask the House leader for the NDP a question, but he did not answer, about what happens when and if the oligopoly partners end up just transferring that tax over to consumers. If we have so few players in the industry, let us say there are three major players, Loblaws being one of them, and we add this tax on, what is to stop them from just marginally increasing everything again to cover the tax? Then we have not accomplished what we set out to do; we have not met the objective.
Maybe there is an easy answer to this. Maybe the NDP would say that if we do a particular thing then it will prevent that from happening. That is what I was trying to understand earlier when I was asking the question. Maybe my concern can be put to rest very easily by addressing that point. Therefore, I want to have conversations about this excess profit tax on these large industries like the grocery and oil industries, but I want to do it in a responsible way. I want to do it in a way that ensures that whatever comes out of it actually produces the intended result, which is to return some of these excess profits created out of the monopolistic environment back to the consumers who are being taken advantage of in the practice of the monopoly or oligopoly. That is my main concern with respect to this. I would love to have a conversation about how the NDP would ensure that does not happen.
On the surface, I certainly appreciate this. I understand that the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc members all voted in favour of this. I think on a surface level it makes a lot of sense. There are some details that I would like to understand a little more clearly before I vote on this, but I will say that the national school food program is an incredible program that I know already works because I see a volunteer version of it at our local level and I know of the success it can create. I think it would help with food insecurity and with breaking down stereotypes. It will also give young children who are growing up the best shot at life and their educational experience if they are not going to school hungry.
I find it very concerning that Conservatives, who will likely vote against this because of their connection to large companies, tend to raise the alarm bells on food bank usage, but then literally in the next action will not do anything to actually help people who are faced with food insecurity. With respect to the national school food program, before any money was even put behind it, when it was just a concept, they voted against it. They have indicated that they will vote against this budget, which includes money for that. It would be easy for them to separate out the items of the budget they do support and vote in favour of those, but they do not because it just seems that they are insistent on not doing anything that possibly could give this government a win.
I will leave it at that. I look forward to listening to the rest of the debate on this and coming to a conclusion as to how I will vote when we are asked to vote on this, I presume tomorrow.
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- Jun/3/24 8:04:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as it relates to grocery prices and the anti-competitive nature of what is going on in Canada, I specifically look to the largest grocery retailers we have here. There are only about three of them. The largest one, Loblaw, and its affiliate stores, control about 42% of the retail grocery market in Canada.
Loblaw controls 42%. In comparison, the largest grocery retailer in the United States controls about 11%. If we have so few companies that have so much of the control and power, I think it is just in the natural competitive nature to see those prices increase. Effectively, we have an oligopoly. Can the House leader of the NDP provide his insight into the best ways to try to discourage that?
I realize this has an excess profit tax. I have an issue with that. I am more than willing to talk about it and listen to ideas because I have spoken in favour of the concept before. How do we prevent that tax from just being passed on to the consumer?
If we are dealing with an oligopoly that only has three or four main competitors, and it has a tax imposed upon it, it would be really easy just to pass that tax along. I am not against it, but I am curious what the member's thoughts are on how we would deal with that.
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- May/9/24 11:49:01 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I have a brief question. I find the last intervention about grocery prices to be very fascinating because the reality is that in Canada, 42% of the retail grocery sector is controlled by Loblaw, whereas the largest sector in the United States is Walmart, with 11%.
However, the Conservatives will never be heard talking about the massive profits that are being made by oil giants or by the grocery retailers. I am wondering what the member's comments on that would be.
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- Apr/9/24 3:52:59 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is an excellent point, and he is absolutely right it is silence from the other side. To add even more on to that, Premier Smith in Alberta also timed her four-cent increase for April 1. We have the oil and gas companies piling on, and we have the Government of Alberta piling on, but everybody is pointing the finger at the federal government because of three cents. That is what I find so disheartening.
He is absolutely right. Where is the outrage when it comes to the wicked profits being made by the oil and gas sector? Why do we not see outrage from the Conservatives on that? Why do we not hear outrage when Danielle Smith increases the per litre gas tax by more than the carbon tax on the exact same day? It is because that does not serve their political purpose.
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- Mar/19/24 1:11:20 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if the member for the NDP brought forward an opposition motion that we charge an excess profit tax on the oil and gas industry, I would vote for it.
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- Feb/5/24 2:13:11 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, while Loblaw profits are at an all-time high so are Canadian grocery bills, and who is working to keep it that way? The Leader of the Opposition's campaign manager and top political adviser.
Last week we learned Jenni Byrne, a senior Conservative adviser, is currently listed as an active lobbyist for Loblaw all while she participates in Conservative caucus meetings and has daily calls with the Leader of the Opposition to set strategy.
While Jenni Byrne has been profiting off the anti-competitive practices of Loblaw, the Leader of the Opposition has been profiting off her counsel on exploiting Canadians' anxieties over grocery prices. Now it all makes sense why Conservative MPs have been putting up roadblocks on legislation to combat predatory pricing and anti-competition practices.
On this side of the House, we will keep working to combat high grocery prices despite the interests of Conservative insiders.
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- Nov/7/23 11:09:41 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, Hansard has this really good search feature where we can put in a couple of key words and it will pull out results for us. If the member put in the key words “oil and gas sector profits” and my name, it is going to pop up a lot.
I have actually raised this point a lot in this House. I have been asked this question a number of times by my NDP colleagues, and I have raised it. I have also raised it on the grocery chains.
I will not shy away from bringing to the attention of this House where I see gouging, as we have seen in grocery chains and as we have seen in the oil and gas sector. Referencing specifically 18¢ wholesale profits to two cents carbon tax, I have said that at least 20 times in this House. It is something that I am routinely bringing up in my party, and it is something that I am routinely bringing up through petitions. This is not an issue that I shy away from, nor have I in the past.
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- Oct/17/23 1:52:15 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I am not sure if this is a set-up, because the member recently watched a video that I did on this exact topic, but it is true.
The carbon tax last year, year over year, contributed two cents per litre on average. The profit margins, or the wholesale profits of the oil and gas sector, was 18¢. Where is the outrage from Conservatives when it comes to those wholesale profits, when they are nine times what the carbon tax is?
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Madam Speaker, I note that my colleague brought up a really interesting point, which is that Conservatives talk about the carbon tax quite a bit, but they seem to stop short when it comes to trying to explain the rising costs otherwise.
There is a very good graph that was recently posted that shows exactly where the price of fuel has increased. Over the last year, the price of fuel has increased, as a result of the carbon tax, by 2¢ per litre. The price of fuel has increased by wholesale margins, in other words, profits, by 18¢ per litre.
Can the member for Timmins—James Bay provide some insight as to why the Conservatives are so hung up on talking about the increase of 2¢ per litre as it relates to the carbon tax and not the 18¢ per litre as it relates to the profits received by these oil companies?
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Madam Speaker, I would agree with the member in his assessment of the unfortunate reality of corporations using the opportunity of inflation to further expedite the problem by adding more inflation and trying to profit off of it.
It is one thing to do this by putting a special tax on it, but how do we do that? He talked about profits of over a billion dollars. How does he see that being implemented practically and the results of that, and how that will be received?
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- Sep/29/22 3:22:51 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do not disagree with the sentiment of the comment. As a matter of fact, I had a great conversation with the member for Kitchener Centre earlier today about this exact issue and about the fact that perhaps we should be looking toward oil companies, which are receiving record-high profits right now, as an opportunity to bring in taxes, similar to what we did for big banks and other organizations.
I respect the question by the member from the NDP. He suggests that perhaps it is taking too long. I will not necessarily disagree with him on that, but I hope that the NDP and the Liberals can work together, because it is clear that some of the other parties are not interested in making sure that policies like that are put in place.
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- Jun/7/22 6:23:50 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I heard the member speak towards the end of his speech, as one of his examples, about the way that the government was approaching banks in terms of the excess profits that they have been making over the last couple of years. He would seem to suggest that there are supports that are being given out to banks as we speak.
However, the reality of this situation is that there is an excess profit tax that is specifically being applied to banks and other businesses that saw windfall profits during the pandemic. Can the member at least accept the fact that the government has introduced that measure to make sure that banks in particular are paying their fair share as it relates to dealing with the problems that we had during the pandemic and the supports that had to be distributed during the pandemic?
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