Agriculture Committee on Oct. 20th, 2026

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a little anecdote. In medieval England, the weight of bread, amongst other things, was laid down by law. A baker who sold a loaf that was too light was punished by his village. So, to avoid arousing suspicion, he would give an extra loaf. That is where the expression “a baker's dozen” comes from, if you buy a dozen loaves from the baker.

Today, however, it is rather the opposite. What we are seeing are smaller packets, changing recipes and rising prices. No one is really aware of this, which is why it's so important to educate people. However, consumers continue to pay without knowing what's really going on.

In Quebec, supermarket labelling already allows us, depending on the discounts, to see the cost per millilitre or per gram, depending on the product.

What I would like to know is what Ottawa is doing, within its own areas of jurisdiction, regarding product packaging, origin and ingredients, to ensure that consumers stop being taken for a ride. It is not enough to write these things in small print or to find ways to circumvent the system. How can we achieve genuine transparency and ensure that practices such as those we see today are no longer used by producers and processors?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Can you repeat that slowly for me, please?

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

Yes.

How can we ensure that Ottawa can take action regarding the actual quantity in the packaging, the actual origin or the actual ingredients used, so that consumers stop being misled by marketing tactics that no longer reflect reality?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

I think what you're talking about is that there's shrinkflation, and then there's skimpflation—

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

That's exactly what I'm talking about.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

—where the retailers, let's say, will use less quantity of a product, which is part of it, but make it more expensive. That is also happening in the marketplace, but my bill does not deal with that. My bill strictly deals with shrinkflation, proper pricing, and open and clear transparency for consumers. However, it is happening.

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

That's fine.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Michael Coteau]

Thank you very much.

Next, we'll go to Mr. Bexte for five minutes.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Chair.

Welcome to the committee, MP Saini. Congratulations on getting to this stage with your private member's bill.

It does, however, seem a bit like putting the buggy before the horse in yet another grand framework without really addressing the lion in the room of food affordability. It's in the title of the bill, and the lion's share, to double up on language, is the inputs and the cost, such as diesel, for industry to deliver food to the store and the cost for the store to deliver food to consumers.

Shouldn't we be trying to get farmers more tools to make food affordability a priority in terms of effectively making food production cheaper? The private member's bill I introduced, the FARM act, would improve or reduce red tape to get new products—feeds, seeds, fertilizers and pest control products—to the marketplace. Do we not have our priorities straight?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Affordability and transparency go hand in hand. We need to do both. As I said, our government has taken many steps to bring affordability—

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you. I have limited time, so I'm going to try to get the most out of it.

If the government is so concerned about this, why wasn't this included in government legislation that has already been tabled?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

I can tell you only that when I walked through the streets of Surrey, canvassing to be a member of Parliament, this was one of the biggest concerns that was raised with me. I'm a member, and this is why it's a private member's bill introduced by a private member. That's a concern I was told about.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

You spoke about Surrey, and you testified earlier that you didn't hear from the British Columbia government. This is absolutely and clearly provincial jurisdiction, so there's a question of overstepping a legislative purpose.

What other provinces did you consult with? Do you know of other provinces that are complying or not complying with this notion?

In Alberta, this has been a practice for a very long time in small and large grocery stores all across the province, in my experience. I have not been to every grocery store in the province, but there's a market imperative to do this for retailers themselves. Why does the government have to legislate this?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

The government has to legislate it because it's not happening with every retailer.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

In what provinces is it happening?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

I am talking about British Columbia because that's where I live.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Is this exclusively—

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

It is happening in Quebec. That is the legislation there.

I wanted to make sure that things that are helping Canadians in Quebec and helping in the U.K. would also help my fellow Canadians across this country. This legislation is important—

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I'm going to interrupt again and move to another part of this.

You spoke to shrinkflation earlier, and you said it could contribute up to 30% of the cost.

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

Right now, it's up to 30%.

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Is the mechanism of shrinkflation, when this happens in the food supply chain, at the retailer's?

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

That's where we saw it, at the retailer—

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Are you saying—

[Gurbux Saini, Liberal, Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC]

I'll give you another example.

About three or four weeks ago, I was again in a grocery store, and we looked at a bottle of honey again—

[David Bexte, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Okay. We spoke about the honey issue.

Are you laying this at the feet of retailers?