Evidence of meeting #55 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was walmart.
A video is available from Parliament.
7:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Mr. Perron, that is your time. Thank you.
Mr. MacGregor might be able to pick up on the union question. I'll leave that to Mr. MacGregor.
Mr. MacGregor, you have two and a half minutes, please.
7:20 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Very quickly, Mr. Gebara, your company has had a very troubled relationship with workers who attempted to unionize in the past. I think, for some of your stores, management shut them down in response to workers trying to unionize.
What's your view if your present-day workers tried to join a large-scale union and tried to do those efforts? What would be the response from the corporate board?
7:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
As I was saying, Mr. MacGregor, we support our associates in many ways, providing a really good environment for development, and we pay very competitive wages. We think we have, and we do have, a very open, honest and direct dialogue with our associates. At the same time I understand that each individual has a choice to engage with an associate's federation. We respect every individual's decision.
7:20 p.m.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Okay. We'll have to leave it at that.
I'd mentioned earlier that many Canadians are experiencing a crisis in confidence and trust with large grocery retailers. This isn't just happening out of thin air. Back in 2017, your company was implicated in a charge that it had conspired with other retailers for bread price-fixing. The Competition Bureau has confirmed with us that those investigations are ongoing. Some of them are criminal in nature. We have heard, of course, from Ms. Rood. She relayed the experiences many of our producers and processors have. We're getting it from both sides here.
I think the onus is on large companies like yours to address that crisis of confidence and trust. I guess my question to you, in the 30 seconds you have, is this: How will you, as a relatively new CEO and president, address that? I do believe the Canadian public is owed something a little bit more than what we're getting from large-scale retailers like yours.
7:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Yes. As I've been saying, Mr. MacGregor, it's honest, transparent, arm's-length negotiations with our suppliers.
At Walmart, we always comply with the law. We always comply with regulation. We have our own code of conduct to run our business the right way. That's what we're committed to doing every day to make sure that we can continue to provide low prices to our customers.
7:20 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Thank you, Mr. Gebara.
Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.
Now we go to our final two questions. They are five minutes each—one Conservative and one Liberal. If you don't want to use your entire five minutes, feel free to let me know.
Now we go to Mr. Lehoux for five minutes, please.
7:20 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here, Mr. Gebara.
Given your experience in various countries, you said it was hard to compare costs. In Canada, are your transportation costs higher? A simple yes or no will do.
7:20 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
The supply chain networks are not comparable because they are different, based on the shape of the networks we have in different countries and with different businesses. The way the network works is completely different from one place to another.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Mr. Gebara, I was asking about transportation costs. Do you pay more for transportation in Canada than you do in the other countries where you do business?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
As I was trying to say, there are different ways to look at the cost. I believe that it's difficult to do an apples-to-apples comparison because there are different components of it.
In the interest of transparency, let me take that back to the team and come back on that one.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
The committee thanks you, Mr. Gebara.
What percentage of food products do you buy under supplier agreements as opposed to the percentage of food products you buy at market prices?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Excuse me, may I get the question again, please?
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
What percentage of packaged foods do you buy at prices you negotiate with suppliers? How does that compare with the percentage of produce you buy? Surely, there's a difference. Quickly, can you tell us what it is?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Again, as you know, we have a very broad business. Our food business is less than 50% of our business.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Thank you.
Mr. Gebara, we know how Canadian food is produced. Our growers and producers provide Canadians with ethically and sustainably produced food, grown with high standards. When I go into your stores, I often see more imported produce than local, domestic produce.
How does favouring imports and outsourcing supplies help Canadians?
Secondly, do you have any initiatives to support local growers?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
In order for us to fulfill our purpose, we believe that we are agents for our customers. We try to source in ways that are both responsible and also in ways that can drive low prices.
In the case of Canada, we have a very strong relationship with more than 2,000 local suppliers. We source more than $20 billion from local suppliers. We have a very robust program.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Mr. Gebara, do you favour Canadian growers, then, over imports for produce?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
Yes. For the most part, our produce is sourced from local sources.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
For my second question, during your tenured career with Walmart you developed the business intelligence and data analytics division.
Is your grocery chain storing and selling mass amounts of customer data to third parties?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
As you know, I have only been with the business for two months. I haven't been briefed on that.
Honestly, that's not what we do. What we do with data analytics is analyze the business so we can develop a better customer value proposition.
Again, I'll have to take that back and get back to you, Ms. Rood, on a very straight answer.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Thank you.
Is the business development fee that we spoke about being used to gather customer information and fund the development of technology to predict consumer behaviour?
7:25 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Wal-Mart Canada Corp.
It's used to improve the ways we can engage with customers to continue to grow our business together with our suppliers.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Thank you very much.
I believe my time is just about up.
7:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative John Barlow
Yes.
Thank you very much, Ms. Rood and Mr. Lehoux.
Now we'll go to Mr. Louis for five minutes, please.