EDITOR’S NOTE: An earlier version of this article identified Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau under her previous role as agriculture minister. The current agriculture minister is
Canada’s biggest grocery store CEOs are going to be called back to Parliament, and this time MPs want them to explain how they are stabilizing food prices.
BC NDP MP Alistair McGregor brought the motion to an in-camera session of the House of Commons agriculture committee on Oct. 19, and minutes unveiling the adopted motion were published on Monday.
“It was an opportunity for us to follow up, to actually find out exactly what transpired between the CEOs and the industry minister,” MacGregor said.
The motion calls on the committee to invite Loblaw Chairman Galen Weston; Metro CEO Eric La Fleche; Empire Company, the parent of the Sobey’s chain, CEO Michael Medline; Wal-Mart Canada CEO Gonzalo Gebara and Costco Canada COO Pierre Riel to appear at committee.
The grocery companies are also asked to supply “a comprehensive report” on their strategies and initiative to stabilize grocery prices by Nov. 2.
These will be examined at an in-camera session of the agriculture committee and then a report will be drafted for Parliament.
Due to these documents concerning commercially sensitive information from competing grocery chains, committee chair and Nova Scotia Liberal MP Kody Blois tells Global News the document review will come first and inform the rest of the committee’s work.
“So step one is to be able to actually obtain the documents to be able to review them, and then how in the manner of which we might call on the CEOs to be able to engage with them about their partnership on how they’re working with the government will really be dictated by that first step,” Blois explained.
MacGregor says that they are working with the committee’s clerk and legal counsel to set up a forum where potential sensitive commercial information can be discussed in a secure way.
“But also we as the people’s representatives are doing our job in holding them to account and making sure that the plans are actually going to do what they’re purported to do,” MacGregor said.
Price growth for groceries continues to outpace overall inflation, with the September data from Statistics Canada placing inflation on groceries at 5.8 per cent year-over-year, opposed to 3.8 per cent for headline inflation.
If the invitations are not accepted, summons will be issued.
In September, the grocery CEOs were called to Ottawa to present plans on how to stabilize prices by Innovation Minister Francois-Phillipe Champagne and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
They were given a Thanksgiving deadline.
The motion also calls these minister to each testify at committee for an hour, along with National Revenue Minister Marie Claude Bibeau. No date is listed for this appearance yet.
While leaving the Sept. 18th meeting with the minister, La Fleche told reporters that pricing is a complex issue with no easy fix.
“It’s an industry issue. Any solution needs to include all the manufacturers, producers, farmers and everyone. It’s not just about the retailers. The minister understands that clearly,” La Fleche said at the time.
Blois has been involved in some of these meetings with the grocery CEOs and the ministers, and says it’s his impression that the grocers do want to work with the government on these initiatives.
While MPs will likely be restricted in what they can share about the in camera document review, Blois says that it will be the committee’s job to try and reassure Canadians actions are being taken.
“I am confident that there are measures being taken and the committee might be able to shed some light on that and also perhaps reassure Canadians, at least from what we’ve seen internally, that there are mechanisms coming both maybe perhaps today and then the days ahead,” Blois said.
The committee’s new motion includes an invitation to other industry stakeholders, including domestic and international food processers to talk about supply chain impacts, but no specific names are listed.