The NDP is calling on the federal government to take action to fight “greed” and shed light on the rising cost of groceries.
Thursday is an NDP supply day, which means the party can introduce a motion of its choosing for MPs to debate all day and then vote on.
Typically, these motions are efforts by opposition parties to pressure the government to act on issues they consider urgent and which might otherwise not be at the top of the agenda.
Taking their first opportunity in the fall sitting to advance the agenda in the House of Commons, New Democrats decided to shine the spotlight on grocery giants that have made “massive profits over the last year”, while the cost of groceries is on the rise, and workers’ wages are not keeping up with inflation.
They call on the government to ‘recognize that corporate greed is a significant driver of inflation and take additional action to support families during this cost of living crisis’.
Specifically, the NDP wants the Liberals to:
- Force CEOs and big corporations to “pay what they owe” by closing tax loopholes;
- Launch an “affordable and fair food strategy” to fight “corporate greed”;
- Ask the Competition Bureau to investigate the profits of grocery chains; and
- Support a House committee study calling on grocery store CEOs to testify about “high food prices and the role of ‘greed’.”
The last point refers to the successful efforts of NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, with the cooperation of all parties, to have the House Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee undertake a study on the cost of groceries and inflation in the food supply chain.
As part of that work, MPs are expected to appeal to industry stakeholders including grocery store executives, economists and farmers, with MacGregor pledging to ‘get to the bottom’ of rising food costs. ‘grocery.
“The three largest grocery chains in Canada raised money. If you look at Empire’s net profits, up 27.8% in two years. Loblaws increased its profits by 17.2% over last year and Metro increased by 7.8%,” MacGregor said during the House of Commons debate on the motion on Thursday, while a colleague sitting nearby could be heard saying “shame”.
“It is important that Canadians see that their MPs respond to their concerns. It is important that they see the people they have sent here discussing this issue with sincerity, but also with politicians who will respond to it,” he said.
Intervening in the debate, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said that while there were parts of the motion he agreed with, he said it failed to fully address the issue because according to him, the government contributes to the increase in the cost of living.
“The NDP has this motion and they’re pointing out that companies should pay what they owe, we agree with that. They’re saying there should be increased penalties for price-fixing, well, we’re okay with that too,” Poilievre said. “It’s all very reasonable. Unfortunately, in some ways it doesn’t go far enough, because they have a very limited view of greed. They think it only exists in the private sector. They ignore in this motion the government greed.”
Liberal MPs have also expressed support for the House debating rising food prices, but Liberal MP and chair of the House Agriculture and Agri-Food Committee Kody Blois said during the debate that it appears the NDP motion “almost seems to have the conclusion before the inquiry”. even happened.”
“And when he talks about high corporate profits and high food prices. I guess my question to the hon. member would be, is he claiming that there are absolute price gouging in this country? Or do you think Are there any plausible reasons like why corporate profits might be higher and food prices are also higher?” Blois said, citing Canadians who buy more groceries than going to a restaurant during the pandemic, as an example.
Responding to his colleague’s question, MacGregor said both can be true at the same time; food prices can rise for a variety of reasons, while large corporations profit from market cornering.
“These two things exist at the same time, and it’s time for parliamentarians to take this issue seriously, launch an investigation, get answers and rise to the challenge with effective policy that will tackle inequality in this country.”
Dalhousie University recently conducted a study that concluded that the evidence for “greed” in food retailing in Canada is “weak at best.”
“Indeed, profits and margins are higher, but very slightly. Compared to some banks and other major economic players in our economy, the difference is relatively small. We must also keep in mind that many Canadians will benefit from these decent financial results, as most pension plans in Canada hold shares in at least one of the big three,” wrote Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director of Agri-food analysis laboratories of Dalhousie University.
Charlebois said based on the research he was a part of, the data suggests grocers may not be responsible.
“That said, some prices in certain food categories have behaved unreasonably in recent years, so that doesn’t mean ‘greed’ doesn’t exist. Accepting that ‘greed’ does exist and accusing companies of Being abusive, however, is the easy part. Where it gets difficult is setting thresholds. How much is too much?” he said.