Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me. My name is Peter Fogarty, and I am the owner of Marché Central du Nord, a company that has been around for more than 20 years. We ship groceries to people in northern communities, more specifically, nurses, doctors and people in Iqaluit and Kuujjuaq.
We prepare grocery orders for people.
I own a grocery store called Metro Fogarty, in Charlemagne. Everything is done on site. We have about 15 employees. They put together grocery orders for people up north. People place an order and send us their grocery list. They could ask for six steaks, an inch-and-a-half thick. We get the order Sunday night or Monday morning. The steaks are frozen and vacuum packed, and extremely high quality. They are on the plane by Tuesday. That is why the company has been around for 20 years. Marché Central du Nord specializes in preparing grocery orders.
Furthermore, I recently made an investment, without knowing what was happening up north. I am building another Metro Fogarty location in Charlemagne. This is a $10-million investment so that I can provide my Metro and northern customers with more quality products and top-notch service. With more products, we will be able to provide people in northern communities with approximately 15,000 items.
Since the nutrition north Canada program was created, our northern sales have dropped by $25,000 a week. We are no longer allowed to ship toothpaste, toilet paper and many other products. I put together a chart to show how Metro Fogarty was doing before. I have another chart showing the decline in sales since the nutrition north program has been around. It is not a good thing for us. Do not forget, we provide jobs to people who prepare the orders.
I have a few questions. Does Marché Central du Nord qualify for the subsidy? Will my business be eligible for the program, according to the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs? What kind of reporting do we have to do for the subsidy? I believe our current file, with Canada Post, is good. Our reports covered every customer and shipping, and I think they were well done. A bit earlier, certain people said that two airlines were necessary. When we used First Air to ship our orders, we were providing top-quality service to people up north. In 20 years of operation, I have never lost a single order. Orders would leave on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday night and get to their destination in excellent condition. Regardless of who is doing the shipping, the quality of our merchandise is first-rate, and that is what matters. And the fact that certain items were removed from the eligibility list has been hard on us.
From a technological standpoint, Marché Central du Nord's computer system is very professional. What are the requirements of the nutrition north Canada program? What are the costs? Up to now, we have been in the dark. Just recently, we invested over $25,000 to comply with Canada Post's standards. We had to buy new equipment. Is there a way we can continue to use our current systems? Will Canada Post's system be adapted to our new databases? Those are things we want to know.
Can the nutrition north Canada program help suppliers in southern Canada attract and keep customers? We provide a service that establishments up north cannot—personalized, top-quality service. We feel that people in Canada's north are entitled to receive the best, most professional service possible, service that is first-rate. The quality of our shipments is exceptional. Residents up north receive their orders after two or three days. That means a maximum turnaround time of 48 hours for orders that are hand-picked and custom-cut. We want to know if that will still be the case under the nutrition north Canada program. We do not know how we are going to ship orders. Will it be with First Air or some other competitor? How will this new system benefit people in northern communities? Are they better off under the program? I am not so sure. It remains to be seen.
Right now, we are trying to make our way in the dark. Marché Central du Nord employs 15 people, who process, prepare, package and ship grocery orders. We care about our customers, and we want to give them the best service and fresh, quality products. We need to know how this program is going to affect us. In addition, our northern customers are fortunate enough to pay the same prices as customers in the greater Montreal area. We save people in northern Canada money. They receive Metro's flyer and can buy ground beef on sale for $1.99 a pound, ham for 99¢ a pound. They just have to pay the shipping. All of our northern customers pay the same price as our in-store customers do. If a bottle of Ketchup is on for 99¢ or $1.99, we charge that same price plus the cost of shipping. There are no hidden costs. We have been doing things that way for 20 years. We have always respected our customers. Many people who come to Montreal from up north shop with us, because they want the quality and prices we can offer.
We do not manipulate prices. We are part of the Metro grocery store chain, we operate under the Metro banner, and we scan the products at the cash, as we would with any other customer. Not to mention, our northern customers receive a service that our in-store customers do not: we package their order with great care, fruits, vegetables, lettuce, tomatoes, all of it. Everything is packaged to ensure that the products arrive at their destination in the same fresh, high-quality condition they left our store in. That has been our goal for 20 years, and for 20 years, we have been successful at it. We do not want to lose our business. A lot of families depend on us for their livelihood, and we provide many families in northern communities with quality products.