Agriculture Committee on June 9th, 2026

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Please continue. Thank you.

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

We began addressing the issue of the concentration of the major food chains with the voluntary code of conduct. Now, we have 12 months left to demonstrate that retailers are truly committed to changing their behaviour—which is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Furthermore, I would humbly suggest that members of Parliament look into the effects of supply chain integration. I am sure this would be an interesting area for the Commissioner of Competition to explore.

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

Ms. Paillat, did you have something to add?

[Julie Paillat]

Thank you.

I agree with Mr. Léger Bourgoin's comments.

I think there is an ask, a need, for the legislation to go further. There should be some further binding terms and an interest in really making change.

I'll leave it at that for now. I know you have other witnesses who are experts in this regard.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Léger Bourgoin, you mentioned the Competition Bureau, which was here last week and was asked to send us recommendations aimed at giving it more influence in the supply chain, particularly with regard to regulations, among other things. We hope then there will be solutions in this regard.

You talked a lot about grocery stores. Do you think it would be possible to attract new grocery chains to Canada?

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

Honestly, I don't think so.

In fact, there has been a trend toward consolidation that we decided to let play out, and to think that a new network—whether American or European—could integrate into the Canadian landscape from coast to coast, given the costs involved, is just wishful thinking.

That is why, in my humble opinion, we must prioritize short supply chains to attract more competition to the Canadian food sector. Short supply chains already exist in every Canadian province, but the economic pressure this model faces from the integration model of large chains is highly detrimental to it. We must therefore support short supply chains.

In fact, the best way to address food insecurity caused by global geopolitical disruptions is to ensure that our own agri-food system is robust enough to meet domestic demand. The more diversified our supply sources are, the more farms will be able to survive in the long term.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much. I even gave you the extra 20 seconds when we had to stop for unanimous consent to continue.

We'll go to the Bloc for five minutes, please.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Léger Bourgoin, we are familiar with your “CBC” style, which you used to deliver your opening statement as if it were a fairly objective news broadcast.

You spoke about labelling and origin. To me, as my colleague Mr. Gourde would say, this is outrageous. I'd like to know your true thoughts on this matter.

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

What do you mean by labelling?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Last fall, you took steps to find out whether the product labels in the store indicated the actual origins of the food. There's a game being played when it comes to the actual origin, and it's often to the detriment of Quebec producers and small markets.

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

Yes, it's problematic.

When we did our analysis, we found that for every in-store visit, there was an average of seven labelling errors regarding the products' origins. Obviously, those labelling errors affected Quebec products more than products from elsewhere in the world.

One might think that consumers will realize that it's very difficult to have a papaya from Quebec. However, when a store mixes cauliflowers from the United States, Mexico and Quebec and displays a big fleur-de-lys to say that it's very happy to support local producers, that's unacceptable.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

That's because people do want to buy local.

You touched on another aspect that's important to us, as you know. I want to talk about the legacy of the Achille de la Chevrotière food wholesaler, which was bought out by Sobeys in 2006. Before that takeover, we had an independent distributor that had $270 million in sales and supplied 25 independent markets. That obviously helped producers get into grocery stores in Ontario, Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the north, as well as in Saguenay—Lac‑Saint‑Jean. The distribution centre was in Rouyn-Noranda.

Unfortunately, because of the Sobeys takeover, the operations were scaled back. The image that followed, which for us is farcical, is the Guyenne tomatoes. They now leave Guyenne, a village in Abitibi West, go for about an eight-hour drive to reach the warehouses in Montreal, stay there for a few days then return to our grocery stores, with the impact that this can have on freshness.

How can we recreate the models that ensure that our regions are not penalized and have access to truly local products, made by our local producers, in our grocery stores?

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

I have two parallel answers for you. The first is that it's really important to support short supply chains. The other one is more delicate.

As you know, the centralization and integration of supply chains mean that there are fewer and fewer affiliated stores. In the past, affiliated stores in Quebec could support local suppliers. However, that opportunity is becoming less and less available, because the affiliated stores are essentially being asked to buy their products through the central purchasing body.

We talk about a back door, that is, the possibility for local producers to go deliver the products they have made or harvested in recent hours directly to the retailer. Why is this model less and less accepted by grocery chains? It's basically to create a very clear dependence on a limited number of suppliers.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

In more concrete terms, what are the risks of having companies that control the distribution chain all the way down to the store? We're seeing more and more of wholesalers, too. What are the risks to producers?

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

It's quite simply asphyxiation. A producer who doesn't have access to a distribution channel is doomed.

Say that a producer doesn't have access to the long supply chain—which means the retailer—because it's smaller and lacks the logistical capacity to meet the expectations and criteria of the major chains. If the short supply chain ceases to exist, the leitmotif, the reason to live, the vocation of the producer falls apart.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

In closing, can you draw a parallel with what's happening in Ontario regarding independent retailers or affiliated stores?

[Patrice Léger Bourgoin]

Ontario still has independent stores, small regional chains. That no longer exists in Quebec. The trend toward consolidating around large retailers is stronger in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Léger Bourgoin.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

I want to give the committee a bit of an update. We will go to about 12:15, and then we'll suspend. We will do the votes and come back around 12:35. That's if everyone agrees, of course.

Then we'll go into the second round and probably stay an extra 10 to 15 minutes, if that's okay with people. We'll postpone the drafting instructions. We can do that next week. We won't have enough time today, and I've heard from the clerk that it will still be fine for the analysts.

We'll go to the next round. It will be five minutes, five minutes and two and a half minutes.

Go ahead, sir.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, witnesses, for being here today.

Thank you, colleagues, for being present and sharing your wisdom.

We've heard a lot, not only today but in other testimony, about the need for more tools; the cost of inputs; the requirement for applied research; access to new pesticides and products; the impact of taxes, regulations and the carbon tax; and the delay imposed by regulations on approvals. All of these things result in an increased cost to producers, and I don't think it's necessarily obvious to consumers how that self-imposed cost is then translated to consumers.

I recently introduced a private member's bill, Bill C-273, the FARM act, to develop a trusted jurisdiction regime whereby we can apply provisional approval or acceptance for new products, like feed, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides—and veterinary products as well, through a bit of a different track—to drive at reducing the regulatory timeline and the burden in accessing new products in order to make our businesses and industries more efficient in the agricultural space. That directly translates into improved variety, resilience and cost to consumers.

I wonder if you could comment, Mr. Janzen, on how that might impact fruit and vegetable growers.

[Marcus Janzen]

I would agree, especially on the processing side, particularly when I think about the fertilizer complex and how obvious it's become that we are dependent on the Middle East in particular.

It's my view that even if the conflict ended tomorrow, the world is not going back to the same place that it was before. Especially when it comes to crop protection tools, I think an alignment with jurisdictions that have an objective similar to ours.... I would think of a country like Australia, for example.

For a lot of commodities, the single biggest impediment to growth is that growers are becoming increasingly unsure that they can actually protect their crop, so I take your point.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I appreciate that. It causes me anxiety on my farm at home. Am I going to be able to access the products I need in order to compete with other jurisdictions in producing products and to generate a healthy net profit per acre to maintain the viability of the farm—or the greenhouse, or the market garden, or any of it? The self-imposed 35% tariff on fertilizers is dramatic. We need to help the public realize that many of the burdens and barriers we have are self-imposed.

Ms. Paillat, could you please comment on this relationship and the circumstance we're in?

[Julie Paillat]

I am not an expert on fertilizer tariffs per se. However, we have seen this as well in the greenhouse sector in the past when there's been a tariff on tomatoes that didn't really allow us to work together with our North American.... It provided a response to the U.S. tariffs for sure, but our supply chains across North America do best when they are harmonized and able to trade freely, which is similar to the crop input as well.

At this point, we also see some misalignment in the impacts that steel tariffs are having on our greenhouse building structures and on infrastructure investment. We would like to see an alignment for growth in the sector and an increased understanding of what that system requires to be competitive.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

It's important that we remove the self-imposed barriers, so I appreciate your comments on that, especially related to crop protection products and innovative products that aren't available in Canada because the regulatory regime is too high.

Mr. Léger Bourgoin, did you want to comment on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Your time is up. Thank you very much.

Mr. Connors, you have five minutes.