Agriculture Committee on Dec. 11th, 2023

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

No, but that's what I'm saying.

[Eric La Flèche]

I told you what I said to the minister. I made two commitments, to provide value to our customers, because we are very much aware of the importance of doing that, and to sign the grocery chain code of conduct. Those are the commitments that I made and we kept to them.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

So that's what you were doing before and that's what you've been doing since.

Let's say that one of my children wanted to work in a Super C or Metro store. What's the starting salary for a cashier at Metro?

[Eric La Flèche]

it's slightly higher than the minimum wage.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

So would you say it's around $15 or $16 per hour?

[Eric La Flèche]

The minimum wage is $15, and it's a little higher than that.

And on that score, I'd like to say that our employees are governed by collective agreements.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I am well aware of that.

[Eric La Flèche]

Our corporation is largely unionized. About 95% of our employees are in a union. Their wages are governed by negotiated collective agreements and our wages are competitive.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Speaking of salaries, what was your total pay in 2022?

[Eric La Flèche]

I can't see how that's relevant to the subject under discussion today?

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Your pay was $5.4 million with an increased bonus of 15%. You earn approximately 155 times the average wage of a cashier who works for you. Don't you find that somewhat obscene?

[Eric La Flèche]

No. My pay is something you have to talk to the Board of Directors about, because I'm in a poor position to talk about my own pay.

Management pay at Metro is normal and competitive. We are a rather large enterprise.you have to attract talent to manage the company. The salaries paid at Metro are competitive. In fact, they are slightly below the median for our reference group. So there is nothing at all to be embarrassed about in terms of management pay.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

You can't imagine the frustration of people who have trouble paying for their groceries and seeing the kind of money being paid to CEOs like you. There are people who make difficult choices and have to deprive themselves of certain things, who see annual salaries of $5 million or $8 million, or 15% bonus increases. I represent people who are in serious difficulty at the moment. They see your overall pay and don't find that you're making much of an effort.

[Eric La Flèche]

I understand that people can be having a rough time, and I understand that these are large amounts. Nobody's saying that it's not a lot. These are large numbers, but it's competitive pay. We’re in a competitive market.

Yes, I understand what you're saying, and I understand that people who are struggling find that it's a lot of money, but at the head of the company, people have to be paid properly.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

When three food chains controls approximately 75% of the whole Quebec market, can it really be called competitive?

[Eric La Flèche]

No, I disagree with what you're saying. The percentages vary, but it's more like five major companies that hold 70% to 75% of the market.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

You're including Costco and Walmart.

[Eric La Flèche]

Five companies hold approximately 70% of the market, but things have to be considered market by market, province by province, and geographical area by geographical area. I can assure you that there's a lot of competition in each of these markets. When you look at national statistics, it gives you an overview, but the market is highly competitive. We’re competing against global companies like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, in addition to some major Canadian firms and all kinds of independent businesses.

I completely reject any supposition to the fact that our industry is not competitive.

[The Chair, Liberal, Kody Blois]

Thank you very much, Mr. La Flèche.

Thank you very much, Mr. Boulerice.

Mr. Barlow, you have the floor for five minutes.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. La Flèche, for being here with us today.

My colleague asked this question earlier on, but I just want to dive a little deeper into it. You said in the Quebec media that when you met with the Prime Minister or the Minister of Industry the grocery CEOs provided the government with a list of recommendations on steps that the Liberal government could take to try to help reduce food costs and be a partner in this effort. However, you said that the government has not followed through on those recommendations.

I believe you said that in answer to my colleague, but if I'm incorrect, please correct me. Can you tell us specifically what recommendations you suggested to the Liberal government on steps to take to help reduce food costs?

[Eric La Flèche]

I will correct my statement to Madam Rood. We did not make firm recommendations to the government to reduce food costs. Government plays a role... On regulations, employment laws and immigration, yes, we made general recommendations, but we didn't come back and say that the government didn't respect those commitments. We didn't say that, so I don't know....

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Sir, from your comments in the media, you were saying that the government had not followed through on taking steps.... I'll try to find the direct quote, but I did see that.

[Eric La Flèche]

No, I'm sorry, but I don't think I said that.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Okay.

Has Metro done an analysis or anything specific regarding the cost of the carbon tax on your brand, the Metro brand, in increasing energy bills, transportation, heating and cooling costs, all of those types of things? Have you done an assessment on what the cost of that is to Metro?

[Eric La Flèche]

No, we have not done a formal assessment. As far as I know, we don't pay a carbon tax today. If carbon taxes are put into effect, we will be impacted by them because we are at the end of a long supply chain, so producers along the line who pay it will have cost increases and will ask for their prices to us to be increased. Like any tax or regulation that increase costs, that could and probably will have an impact on retail price inflation.