Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to use the beginning of my six minutes just to read a notice of motion into the record, and I know the clerk has a copy of that motion in both official languages. The motion is as follows:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee undertake a study on profit-driven inflation in the grocery sector and the costs of groceries going up while large chains are making record profits; that the committee examine the record profits of large grocery chains and their CEOs in relation to employee wages and the cost of groceries in Canada; that the committee also examine the ability of large grocery chains leveraging their size to cut into the earnings of Canadian farmers; that the committee invite witnesses with specific knowledge on profit-driven inflation and affected stakeholders from the industry, including grocer CEOs, economists, unions and farmers or representative organizations; that no fewer than six meetings are set aside to hear from witnesses; that the committee report its findings to the House and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Government table a comprehensive response to the report.
That's just a notice of motion for all of my colleagues to consider in the coming days.
With that, Mr. Chair, I'll continue with my questions. I want to join with my colleagues in thanking the witnesses for appearing before our committee and helping to guide us through this study.
Dr. Fraser, I'd like to start with you and the Arrell Food Institute. I can remember when our committee visited the University of Guelph back in 2018, and we were really impressed with some of the amazing work that your university is undertaking.
I'm glad you mentioned climate change in your submission and mentioned it in your opening remarks. One of our earlier witnesses on this study was Oxfam, and they noted in their look at this issue that over the last 20 years there has been an 819% increase in weather-related humanitarian funding appeals. We have a huge crisis going on right now in the Horn of Africa. The head of the World Food Programme was in the news today, talking about the crisis that exists there. They are experiencing severe droughts that have impacted the ability of local farmers to produce food for the local population.
Then of course the region was hit with the war in Ukraine. Ukraine, being a breadbasket for the region, essentially had its exports of grain cut off for a number of months, and we're still recovering from that backlog. Also, climate change is impacting our farmers' abilities. My province of B.C. was cut off from the rest of Canada last November, and we know that farmers in the Prairies have experienced extreme droughts and extreme flooding events, which have impacted our ability to produce to our full potential.
At the same time that our country is trying to increase its production, we're also fighting this rearguard action against what climate change is doing to our production. We know that countries around the world are struggling with the same problems, but they don't have the resiliency and technological know-how or the funding resources that our government has.
I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how Canadian expertise and know-how could be used in places like countries in Africa to help build that local resiliency. When the rug is pulled out from underneath them, such as when a country like Ukraine suddenly has its exports cut, what can we do to build the resiliency and how can Canada step in to fill that void? If you have any thoughts on that in the next couple of minutes, they would be appreciated.