On the subject of dominance positions, what we have just heard is quite scandalous. Mr. Easter was reporting the remarks heard in that conference call that the big boss of PotashCorp was part of.
However, I would like to continue on another matter, still related to dominance positions. Recently, down our way in Quebec and all over Canada, a lot of small producers, suppliers and processors received a letter from Loblaws, the grocery chain. The letter informed them that their relationship was terminated unless they registered for the list of products in their warehouse. So, for example, the honey producer in my constituency, who supplied the Loblaws just a few kilometres away, now had to send a lot of his honey to the warehouse in Toronto and pay the fees that allowed him to be registered on the list of products there. About 500 small producers, processors and suppliers in Canada received that letter and are no longer able to sell their products on Loblaws' shelves.
But we are supposed to live in a time when we are looking for markets closer to home, when we want to fight the effects of greenhouse gases and when we prefer to purchase locally, to the extent possible.
A company like Loblaws, together with Sobeys, takes up 75% of the market. Those people are powerless in the face of the powerful economics of the agri-food market.
Representatives of independent grocers have come here on several occasions to tell us how difficult this unacceptable situation is for them. They have also told us that the Competition Bureau could intervene because of recent amendments to the act. An intervention like that might knock some sense into the people in those big companies who do not seem to understand that local purchasing has to be given preference these days. I am sure that they will have all kinds of reasons up their sleeves, reasons to do with making a profit, no doubt. Are there any other reasons?
I would like to know if I am interpreting the act correctly. When sanctions are provided for in situations of dominance like that where the market is being interfered with, does the Competition Bureau have enough power to act?