Agriculture Committee on June 2nd, 2026

[Marianne Dandurand, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

Okay.

In this regard, do you think that the Competition Bureau Canada has the tools and resources necessary to effectively monitor challenges in the agri-food sector?

Competitors are not necessarily found among the major chains. There may also be competitors within the chain itself.

Do you have the tools to intervene now?

[Jeanne Pratt]

The Competition Act was modernized in 2022, 2023 and 2024. We are making it a priority to address all potential concerns related to the entire supply chain. We have tools.

We have a record number of cases before the Competition Tribunal and the courts. We are putting those tools to use. Would more resources help us bring more cases? Absolutely.

We are using the generational upgrades to our legislation that this honourable place helped put in place over the last few years. We are hyperfocused on making sure that we're using all of the tools at our disposal to attack any competition issues that address affordability issues for Canadians in the entire supply chain.

On our competition promotion work, it will continue to be a focus for us to understand what barriers.... We've done our retail grocery market study to look at barriers to competition, but that's at the very end. There's a very long line before that food gets on the shelves in the grocery store. That will continue to be a focus of our work. We are interested in looking into competition issues throughout the supply chain, so that we can understand whether there are barriers to entry or recommendations that we can make to governments at all levels to help that competition work better.

[Marianne Dandurand, Liberal, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I have just a bit of speaking time left, so I'd like to ask you to respond in writing to my next question.

Our monetary power is not quite there yet, but could the committee recommend legislative amendments that would allow the Competition Bureau to intervene more effectively in the supply chain to counter anti-competitive practices?

[Jeanne Pratt]

We'll follow up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

I see we have a new member of Parliament down there. It's nice to see you.

MP Gill, you have six minutes.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

As you can see, we enforce competition.

Ms. Pratt, Mr. Durocher and Mr. Hollingworth, thank you for being with us today.

We're interviewing witnesses as part of our study, and new topics are emerging in the news at the same time.

Over the past few weeks, we've heard about the issue related to dynamic pricing. What do you think about this practice? Is it debatable?

How can consumers deal with such a challenge so that they can know the exact price they should pay?

[Jeanne Pratt]

I could tell you what comes next.

Algorithmic pricing is a focus for us at the moment, because it is impacting pricing across industries. We put out a study. We conducted a study with stakeholders so that we could better understand what some of the competition issues could be in relation to algorithmic pricing and surveillance pricing. I recommend our report to you so that you can see that, from our perspective, it isn't clear that it's all bad or all good. Algorithmic pricing can lead to more efficient pricing. It can lead to better offers. Anyone who may be offered a free coffee on their birthday might see a benefit from some of those.

We see potential issues from a competition perspective. For example, it could, in certain circumstances, lead to colluded outcomes if we have a concentrated market and everyone is using the same algorithmic pricing models. That is one area of concern. We're also concerned, in our deceptive marketing work, that price transparency for consumers is important so that they can make informed choices and use their power as a consumer in the best way possible.

Algorithmic pricing is one of many practices being used in the online marketplace, in addition to dark patterns, urgency cues, drip pricing and a lot of other things. We are focused on identifying what the potential enforcement issues are under our legislation, but we're also looking at ways we can advise the government on policy choices and pro-competitive regulation as algorithmic pricing becomes more prolific.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC]

In fact, I was putting myself in the consumer's shoes by telling you what's good and what's bad. However, it's true that it affects several sectors of the economy. In short, we see it in everything related to housing—it happens, of course—and travel.

I'll get back to agriculture.

You wrote a report. I'll review it, of course.

We're talking about information. Do you think that the current state of research allows for an understanding of the situation—one that I might not describe as exhaustive, but which would at the very least be substantive enough for us, as lawmakers, to be able to form a comprehensive picture and take a position on it?

You also talked about modification or how we can adjust to ensure compliance with the law. Compliance still depends on a certain willingness.

Do you think we have enough information to be able to make proposals or, at the very least, suggest avenues for research and reflection over the coming years?

[Mike Hollingworth, Acting Deputy Commissioner of the Competition Promotion Branch, Competition Bureau Canada]

Thank you very much for the question.

Our retail grocery market study in 2023 provided a great overview of the retail grocery market and the degree of competitive intensity, particularly on the store shelves. One area where we still have work to do, as Ms. Pratt spoke about, is within the whole food supply chain. That is not an area that has been looked at in depth from a true competitive perspective. There are some pieces of academic research in Canada, but they are few and far between.

Our work overall has been focused on specific markets or industries, but we are aware that those markets and industries, particularly in agriculture, are so interconnected. That's why we are focusing our efforts going forward on looking further into barriers to competition, regulatory impediments or the degree of competitive intensity across the food supply chain as best we can to weave that narrative together.

Thank you.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

You have 40 seconds.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, QC]

I'll stop here, but I'll take back 10 seconds during my second round of questions, if you'll allow me. That would be great.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

You can claim this time in the next round. You can have 10 seconds in the next round. That's not a problem.

We'll go to the Conservatives now for five minutes.

Mr. Bexte.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

I appreciate everybody's participation today.

Welcome, witnesses.

This is a very interesting study. It shows, as it did in the previous hour, that the interconnections are quite stark, whether they're in business risk management or global trade.

You've touched on the different layers of the food supply chain. You're really looking at the retail level right now, but I want to look at the level under that.

Canada's meat processing industry is quite concentrated, and that sector is dominated by a small number of large facilities. Is the Competition Bureau looking at that specifically at all yet, or is that future work?

[Jeanne Pratt]

As Mr. Hollingworth said, we're starting to look at competitiveness within the entire food chain. That goes from fertilizer and inputs all the way through wholesale, transportation and distribution to retail.

We are aware that, frankly, it's not just the food sector. Concentration levels across industries in Canada...businesses have become more concentrated. We've seen less entry. We've seen less dynamism over the last 20 years. One of the things we think can help is the changes to our laws that were passed between 2022 and 2024, particularly with respect to our merger laws. We saw significant changes in December 2023 and June 2024 that mean that we can now actually take concentration into account.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Good. That leads me in another direction.

Federally inspected meat processors are very concentrated, but there are also provincial processors, or regional ones that are provincially inspected. This whole dynamic sets up a very interesting circumstance.

Related to interprovincial trade, is this difference acting as an interprovincial trade barrier? If yes, to what magnitude, and what are some of the remedies?

[Jeanne Pratt]

I think it probably does. For example, in food processing, we've seen little food hubs and shared kitchens that want to do processing. Depending on where you are in the country, you may face municipal, provincial...or you may be regulated by facility. You may be regulated by the 10 people who are using that shared kitchen. The myriad of regulations and that disparity cause a huge barrier to small and medium-sized enterprises that want to expand into other parts.

Interprovincial trade barriers and public restraints on competition in general.... If we could tackle those, we think would add 4% to 8% to GDP across the Canadian economy. It is a huge bang for the buck.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Is that just in food?

[Jeanne Pratt]

No, that is across the economy. For example, looking at agriculture and agri-food stats in 2024, it generated $149 billion, which is about 7% of GDP. If we look at what 4% to 8% of GDP proportionally looks like in the food sector, we may see a significant amount of competitive vigour.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

There are two features of the circumstance. One is that, because of the concentration of the market, there's an obvious food security concern if there is an upset—a black swan event or something weird. Then, just generally for affordability, food, interprovincial trade and GDP, there's a whole other level. Does that make this rank higher in your triage of things to investigate?

[Jeanne Pratt]

Yes, I would say affordability across the food chain is—

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I mean specifically in the meat processing industry and the provincial inspection versus CFIA.

[Jeanne Pratt]

Not that, in particular. However, as we said, we are at the beginning of looking deeper into the food chain and at all of those levels. We have to look at each and every input in each and every place and identify where the opportunities are to improve competition.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

As part of your investigation, do you look at how easy a solution might be to elevate into your priorities? For example, if CFIA and the provincial inspection agencies could coordinate their system so there would be no gaps and no overlap, that would be an easy win for the whole system. Would that be something that you could—

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

We're going to have to stop there. Thank you.

We'll go to the Liberals now for five minutes.

MP Connors, go ahead.