Evidence of meeting #42 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was retailers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Director General, Devolution and Territorial Relations Branch, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
That's right.
Conservative
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First, you tell me that the cost of the new Nutrition North Canada Program is approximately the same as that of Food Mail.
So you acknowledge that, to make the Nutrition North Canada Program competitive, the quantity of food that the first nations and Inuit peoples currently receive will have to be reduced. There will be less of it and the program will cost less. In actual fact, its cost is still the same.
In this area, you didn't consider that food withdrawn from the program will have to be stored and that it will be up to the communities or to the retailers to deal with that.
You're also telling us that the calculation of the subsidies is important for you. What's important for you is to ensure that the subsidy the department provides is applied to the food in question when it's paid for at the cash.
You're not considering that transportation may cost more. For example, take a pound of butter that costs $8.49 and retails for $9.60 or $9.65 under the new program because the retailer doesn't have the same bargaining power. It's not true that it will have the same bargaining power, and, as First Air told us, it could cost more. If a pound of butter costs $9.67 instead of $8.49, that's not that important to you, provided the amount of the subsidy is applied to that pound of butter. Is that correct?
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Treaties and Aboriginal Government, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
That's what we want to see; these are prices that will stabilize or decline.
Bloc
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Treaties and Aboriginal Government, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
We want to ensure that the subsidy has been adequately applied to the pound of butter or to other products.
Bloc
Yvon Lévesque Bloc Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC
All right.
Incidentally, I remind Ms. Glover that there is accountability for the Food Mail Program. The carrier has an obligation to take the food, the freshness of which is checked when it's loaded on the aircraft and, in a limited period of time transported to the destination in good condition. That's the responsibility of the business.
You also opened a door to me with regard to your loyalty. This is entirely to your credit, but, at the same time, it can present an enormous danger. I hope you wouldn't be prepared to deliver blankets contaminated with small pox in the north to get rid of the first nations. I hope your loyalty doesn't go that far.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Treaties and Aboriginal Government, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
I'll choose not to answer the last question, but I will be pleased to answer the others.
With regard to eliminating the subsidy for non-perishable foods and non-foods, I simply want to recall that we previously showed before this committee that, from an economic standpoint, for both consumer and taxpayer, it wasn't a bargain to ship products such as diapers by air. It costs much less to send them by boat.
The storage issue was also raised. Additional storage expenses will definitely be incurred by retailers in the north.
However, I believe I've previously told the committee that, for less than $1,000, the shipping company will leave a container in the community to add to the storage capacity of the business.
I would also invite people to go and visit the retailers in the north to see how much space is reserved for carbonated drinks and their non-nutritional food items in the warehouses. We sent out a notice of change in May. These retailers should have changed storage space allocation priorities. They aren't the majority; I believe only two haven't done so. All the other retailers in the north have made the necessary changes to make room for products that will no longer be covered and to place their annual orders through Sealift, as it's called.
Then you mentioned checks. Canada Post doesn't check everything 100%. Only a small portion of foods are checked to ensure that their quality is still good when they reach the community. Canada Post doesn't check 100%. That's not part of the contract, part of the service offered.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Thank you. We have to end it there.
Is it the wish of the committee to entertain the question now or would you like to move it to the first order of business on Wednesday?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bruce Stanton
Okay. There are no other speakers. All those in favour of the motion?
(Motion negatived)
Members, thank you for your indulgence and patience this afternoon.
Thank you to our witnesses, who were patiently waiting out in the hallway for the first part of our meeting. I appreciate that, as always. This is a very interesting topic.
Enjoy your evening, members. We'll see you back here on Wednesday at 3:30.
The meeting is adjourned.
