Evidence of meeting #28 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was employees.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Were you aware of that because Ms. Davis had sent you a courtesy email?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
I think she did, on June 11, send me a courtesy email sometime in the morning, but prior to that we had heard through union channels that Loblaw had made that decision.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Mr. Medline, when you made your decision on June 11 with your management team, were you aware that Loblaw and Metro had made a similar decision?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Empire Company Limited
I had heard through the grapevine, through the unions and through the employees that they were thinking of making that decision. We didn't know for sure.
We made our decision prior to receiving an email from the president of Loblaw.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
When did you receive that email from the president of Loblaw?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Empire Company Limited
I don't know. I don't have it at my fingertips.
I also received an email from the president of Loblaw telling me that they were putting in hero pay at the beginning, as a courtesy.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
You'd be surprised to learn that wage fixing doesn't prevent employers from increasing wages, Mr. Medline. It works to ensure employers don't decrease wages.
Ms. Davis, was the courtesy email a courtesy to your employees or to your competitors?
Liberal
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
It was a courtesy to let them know we had made that decision.
You have to understand, we were working through a global pandemic. We had many conversations about the issues we were dealing with in our stores through the Retail Council of Canada, and I had made the decision independently of them. I let them know. Obviously, Save-On and Walmart had already made the decision to terminate their premiums. We made the decision independently. It was already public knowledge, so I sent it.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Right.
Mr. La Flèche, you indicated there had been communication and you asked your competitors whether they would continue to pay the modest wage top-up for essential workers.
When did you ask and who did the asking?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
I did the asking. The week of May 20, I asked some of my colleagues their intentions regarding ending or maintaining the premium at the end of May. The answer I got was that they hadn't decided and that they would let me know if and when.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
When you say “competitors”, does that include Mr. Medline?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
I spoke to Mr. Medline during that week in May. Yes, I did, and I got the same answer. They were thinking about it and hadn't made a decision.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Did you revisit that conversation closer to the June 13 date?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
Not with Mr. Medline....
Closer to the June 11 decision, in her case, I did reach out to Ms. Davis to ask her if her intentions were still to end it on June 13, to which I got an answer again that they hadn't decided, they were still thinking and meeting about it, and they would let us know if and when they decided.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
How is it then, if you hadn't decided yet and you had communication but nothing was final, that you all landed on June 13?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
It was supposed to end at the end of May and, on May 22, we announced that we were extending for two weeks. We felt near the end of May that we were getting close to ending that premium. Conditions were starting to return to normal. We say déconfinement in Québec. Most stores were starting to reopen, so we were getting closer to that date.
We chose independently to extend it by two weeks, as opposed to one month as we did the previous month.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I take it that when all of you use and emphasize the word “independently”, you mean independently in regular communication with your competitors.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
We don't have regular communications with our competitors. You misunderstand.
We are very careful, and everything we do is within legal boundaries. I took care to ask our lawyers before making that call if I could ask about their intentions of ending the premium pay, and I was assured that it was all in conformity with competition laws.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
We do not talk regularly, and when we talk, it's about matters that don't concern competition.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
I'm out of time.
Ms. Davis, I trust you also consulted lawyers before you sent that courtesy email.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
That's the end of your time, Mr. Erskine-Smith.
Before we move to the next round of questions, I want to remind members and witnesses that it's important we allow each other to finish so that the interpreters can actually do the interpretation that they need to do. If you're talking over each other, they can't do that.
We'll now turn to Monsieur Lemire.
Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for six minutes.