Evidence of meeting #38 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was soil.
A video is available from Parliament.
Professor and Agronomist, Université Laval, As an individual
Your question leaves me speechless. Could you clarify it?
In what sense are you speaking of inequality? Are you saying that having programs would disadvantage small producers compared with large producers? I just want to make sure I understand the question.
Liberal
Giovanna Mingarelli Liberal Prescott—Russell—Cumberland, ON
Do the criteria you propose for soil, for example, work everywhere in Canada or just in Quebec?
Professor and Agronomist, Université Laval, As an individual
Soil is a regional reality in Quebec, Ontario and so on. A big distinction can be made between the east and the west. There are broad principles, but the climate situations are very different. If we want very effective programs, flexibility is needed when adapting the programs. They are too inflexible, so regional accommodations are needed to take local realities into account.
Liberal
Giovanna Mingarelli Liberal Prescott—Russell—Cumberland, ON
Perfect. Thank you.
I'm going to turn to you for my last question, Madam Honsberger.
CANZA focuses on scaling smart climate practices. How could BRM programs better reward farmers who adopt practices that reduce emissions and improve resilience?
Interim Executive Director, Canadian Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-food
Thank you for the question.
Very quickly, a lot of our work relies on data management, data collection and the quantification of what farmers are doing to invest proactively in their farms. Practice change, resilient agriculture and regenerative agriculture are all things that are going to help us mitigate risk and volatility. Without a centralized data platform that speaks to all the different tools we're using—be they insurance tools or banking and financial institution tools—we're going to miss the boat.
That's what I would encourage. Look at business risk management programs in terms of the ecosystem of supports that farmers need.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Thank you very much.
I'd like to thank all the witnesses for joining us here today. We appreciate that.
That concludes this portion of our meeting, and it also concludes our study of business risk management programs in Canadian agriculture. I'd like to thank all the witnesses, over many meetings, who got us to this point. We appreciate it.
We'll suspend, now, for a few minutes. We're probably going to take two minutes and then jump right into the next meeting. We have the last 15 minutes reserved for draft instructions and some other pieces.
Thank you so much.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Okay, folks, I'm going to begin.
Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, September 18, 2025, the committee is commencing its study on food security in the face of global instability.
I'd like to welcome our guests joining us today. From the Competition Bureau of Canada we have Ms. Pratt, who's the interim commissioner of competition, Mr. Hollingworth and Mr. Durocher.
You have five minutes for your presentation, and then we'll open up for questions. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today.
Jeanne Pratt Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for inviting us to appear before you today.
My name is Jeanne Pratt. I am the interim commissioner of competition. As mentioned, I am joined by my colleagues, Anthony Durocher, who is acting senior deputy commissioner responsible for our mergers and monopolistic practices branch, and Mike Hollingworth, who is acting deputy commissioner of the competition promotion branch.
The Competition Bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that is tasked with protecting and promoting competition in Canada. We administer and enforce the Competition Act, which is a law that applies across all sectors of the economy. Our work includes investigating abuses of market power, reviewing mergers that can lessen competition, addressing price fixing and other cartel behaviour, and tackling deceptive marketing practices. We also advocate for government policies and regulations that support competitive markets.
Your study addresses issues that matter deeply to Canadians. It comes at a crucial time, when Canadian households are feeling the pressure of rising food prices across the country.
Competition is an important factor in food security and affordability. Stronger competition leads to lower prices, more choice and greater opportunity for Canadians. It supports productivity, encourages investment and helps ease cost-of-living pressures. We also recognize that competition is one of many factors impacting food affordability.
We have been prioritizing issues of affordability in our work, particularly as it relates to food. In 2023 we published the findings of our market study on the retail grocery sector. The study focused on barriers that are limiting competition, reducing choice and increasing prices for Canadians.
Our study found that Canada's grocery industry is concentrated, with most Canadians buying their groceries in stores owned by five grocery giants: Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Costco and Walmart. It also highlighted barriers to competition, such as property controls blocking the opening of new stores, and areas of innovation in the industry, such as online grocers and delivery services.
These findings remain relevant today. We continue to engage with governments across Canada to encourage the implementation of the recommendations we made in our report. For example, Manitoba recently adopted legislation to prohibit property controls in the grocery sector.
Moving now to our enforcement work, grocery and the broader food supply chain are a significant priority for us. For example, we are investigating the use of property controls by the companies that own Loblaws and Sobeys. Since we started, I'm happy to report that Loblaw have taken steps towards eliminating their use of property controls, and we are monitoring their commitment. However, our investigation into the use of property controls in the Canadian grocery sector remains ongoing. To help businesses comply with the law, we also published guidance on property controls in 2025, setting clear guardrails on the use of arrangements between landlords and grocers that can limit entry from other retailers who sell food.
In our merger work, we also recently secured a binding agreement with Parrish and Heimbecker to address concerns arising from its proposed acquisition of GrainsConnect Canada operations. Parrish and Heimbecker has agreed to sell GrainsConnect's grain elevator business in the area around Reford, Saskatchewan, to address our concerns. This will help ensure that farmers in the region continue to benefit from competition when selling their wheat and other grains.
We know our work is far from done. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize potential competition issues throughout the food supply chain.
Before we proceed to your questions, I would note that the Competition Act requires us to conduct our investigations in private and to keep confidential the information we obtain. This means that there can be limits on what we can say about specific matters and investigations, including whether certain investigations exist.
Thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you.
We look forward to your questions.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Thank you very much.
We'll start with the Conservatives for six minutes. We have MP Wagantall.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you, witnesses, for being here today.
I'm from Saskatchewan. We live to farm and farm to live. We value our environment incredibly. This really is to approach how we deal with food insecurity. I'm very concerned that our environment focus is impacting our ability to do what we do so well, because we're not recognized for what we already do. With the competition challenges that we see across our nation, I totally get that. I don't get to grocery shop much either, like the Prime Minister. I did it one day, and my husband called and said, “Where are you?” I said I was still looking at the romaine lettuce. It is frightening, where we're at.
I understand the work that you do to deal with that competition challenge among the big boys in Canada. That alone, when it comes to competition, is not going to make the difference that we need for everyday Canadians who need to buy their groceries. Have you looked at the co-operatives across western Canada, where it is another alternative? The people who live and shop there also have an investment in it and an opportunity to make a difference in their own lives and with the pricing of food across their province.
Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada
We haven't looked specifically at that. Our job really is to promote competitive markets. Our work there revolves around if there are regulations or public barriers to competition that would stop offers from co-operatives or other small and medium-sized enterprises, or indeed other people, from entering the market to add that competitive vigour, which we believe leads to lower prices, better choices, better quality products and efficiency across the economy. The co-operatives themselves can offer, in some areas of the country, that competitive vigour. On our enforcement work, we would look at those co-operatives. There has been a transaction activity involving those. We view them as vigorous competitors in those transactions, and we seek to protect the competition that they provide.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
I appreciate that. I'm a small business owner, and the challenge is the impact on what I would consider is a unique dynamic that doesn't exist anymore, and that is an individual store that is totally, truly independent. Are there any dynamics like that in our country, where there are actual independent grocers?
Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada
In our 2023 retail grocery market study, one of the areas of focus was how we can incentivize more independent grocers to enter and expand, in addition to encouraging additional international grocers to enter. That competitive vigour that would challenge the incumbents is something that is important for both small and medium-sized enterprises that are trying to enter and expand, but also for consumers who are looking for the benefits of competition at the grocery store. Those independents are a key part of our recommendations to try to tackle things like the property controls in local markets that might stop them from even offering a sampling of food products, or a full array.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
A significant example of that would be farmers' markets.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Right now they are being significantly challenged from being able to provide certain food items—as an example, eggs—that have been provided generationally throughout our nation in our small stores, markets. Are you engaged at all in protecting them?
Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada
I think we would want to hear if they are facing barriers to selling eggs at those farmers' markets. What is stopping them? Are there regulatory...or rules around food safety or supply? We're really interested in understanding where the points of friction are for small producers to offer competition at the farmers' market, at the grocery store or even in food processing. That's something we would want to hear about. Our job is to advocate reducing those barriers, or to enforce, when we see conduct by companies that have market power...that stop them in their tracks.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
It wouldn't be direct, but it would probably be happening through other means.
I'll talk about my province a bit more. The reality is that what we grow is the best in the world, and we are very creative. I'm not challenging what's out east. I can't even say “out east”, because I have a son-in-law who's from out east. He says, “Mom, Ontario is not east.”
The bottom line is that we are very focused on the environment, soil quality, working with our water agencies and whatnot, and the opportunity to have regenerative farming. We need to do more, I believe, in this country to recognize the high quality of food that we have and do everything we can to make sure that farmers can be competitive in those environments, because I think that's becoming more and more difficult in this current economic environment.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Coteau
Thank you very much.
We'll go to the Liberals and MP Dandurand for six minutes.
Liberal
Marianne Dandurand Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Pratt, thank you very much for being with us today.
I'd like to ask you several questions over the next two hours. I'll try to do that fairly quickly.
In your opinion, do agricultural producers, particularly vegetable growers, have sufficient bargaining power compared with large buyers in Canada?
Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada
Thank you very much for your question.
I'll respond in English if you don't mind, because of the economic vocabulary in English.
Our enforcement mandate is not really to regulate the inequality of bargaining power. Our focus is really on whether the big guys are being big and bad. Are they doing something that would stop the vigour of their customers or their suppliers to compete? We believe it's the competitive process that gives us the benefit of lower prices, so we're not here to protect competitors within the system but to protect the process that leads to those outcomes.
Where there is inequality of bargaining power, we have to look at the contributing factors to that. Are there regulatory barriers that are making it more difficult or that are impeding the competing positions of the parties? That's where our work to advocate for reducing those public restraints on competition comes in. Although we don't really get in the middle of those negotiations and an inequality of bargaining power, we are there to protect the process to make sure that they don't face constraints in their ability to compete in the market.
Liberal
Marianne Dandurand Liberal Compton—Stanstead, QC
In this case, do you think there are obstacles to fair negotiations between producers and the major players in the world who buy their products, particularly in the vegetable sector?
Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada
As part of our dissemination work, we could look at transactions that can increase the market power of the largest players; transactions that will support it.
Our merger work is the first line of defence to stop that market power from growing. That is one area of our work where we look at what the impact is of a potential transaction on concentration levels. Is it going to negatively impact suppliers or customers?
Our focus, again, is on that competitive process, because we want to make sure that competing suppliers or competing purchasers have the benefit of competition at whichever end of the negotiations they happen to be on.