[Member speaks in Inuktitut]
It's great to have all of you here. As the critic for the Arctic, I try to push all your issues when you ask me. It's great to have Darius here from, as you can see, the farthest community from Ottawa here on the map, and it's great that the committee gave him access. As at least Darius and the committee members know, I've been fighting the bad changes in this program for over a year.
Among other things, Darius, you're asked to try to get special consideration for that situation that all parties in your legislature passed unanimously, as did the chief and council.
I was shocked at what we can see from the testimony today. People are being cut off, some items are ineligible, necessities are being taken off the list, and some communities aren't eligible. The prices are skyrocketing, so how do you know the savings are passed on? Some of those concerns are even a shock to me to hear today, over and above the fact that I've already been fighting changes that I think will hurt.
Darius, I want to ask you about two things. The rationale from the department seems a little weird in your situation. I don't understand how it works, actually, some of the other more complicated travel. It says here in the paper that the rationale for going with a direct subsidy--this is from the spokeswoman from INAC--is that it will “shorten the supply chain and reduce handling of fresh foods”.
Well, in Whitehorse they go into the grocery, they buy their stuff, they take it up to Air North, they put it on the plane, they get off the plane, and they take their food home. That's pretty short. Now they'll have to go to a retailer--some of whom have already refused to do this--and convince the retailer to sort out what goes under which category, to take it to the airline, and to negotiate a price for it. Obviously it could sit around the store forever. That's not any shorter.
In another article just last week, another rationale from the department was that with no oversight on the kinds of goods being shipped, there are two risks. There's no oversight. They're suggesting that the reason they had to change the program was that there's no oversight. Well, I happened to be in Air North on the weekend to pick up something else, and I saw the food guide. It's a very complicated list that tells exactly what is allowed on the plane or why it's not, so the department is not giving a true rationale.
It says if everyone went out and loaded up on goods each time, triggering a transportation subsidy, it could be destabilizing for local retailers. Well, the department's rationale for the program was to provide competition for local retailers, which would keep the prices down for people in the north. Now they're arguing against their own rationale. If everyone went outside.... The Inuit must be laughing at that one. They're suggesting that the people are just going to go from those northern communities to the grocery store at several thousand dollars every time and then cost the department a few cents to get their groceries.
Also, Darius, I heard that the caribou didn't make it past the village this year. That's where most of you got most of your food normally, which exacerbates any problems with this program.