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.
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
You said “absolutely safe”. Those were your words.
Did you have incidents at various locations?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
We did have incidents. As I said, incidents did happen. They were lower than the Canadian population.
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Would you agree with me that it's stressful for cashiers working at your stores these days?
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
Ali Ehsassi Liberal Willowdale, ON
Okay, so why would you take away the two-dollar bump when you know that they're stressed out and concerned? Some of them have cited shortcomings at the various locations. Even if those shortcomings weren't there, it's stressful. Isn't that correct?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
It's stressful.
As I said already, the two-dollar premium was a temporary one. The economies are opening up, and other workers have gone back to work with regular pay. It's no different for our company and our industry to go back to the normal pay.
3:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sherry Romanado
Thank you very much.
Our next round of questions goes to MP Gray.
You have the floor for five minutes.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being here today.
My first questions are for Ms. Davis from Loblaw.
You had mentioned profitability during this time, so I wanted to ask you specifically about a category that you sell, which is wine and also beer. I know that in 2016 Loblaw Companies won bids through the B.C. government for online auctions to acquire B.C. wine licences. You obviously saw the economic viability of those licences. In other provinces, Loblaw also sells craft beer and wine.
We know that, during the time of the pandemic, restaurants and bars were all closed, and we've heard that in other areas liquor sales have been up dramatically. Do you have statistics on your beer and wine sales over the time of the pandemic compared with previous years?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
I don't have the specifics on the wine and the beer sales, but I imagine they would have increased.
As we said, we have seen an increase in sales across many categories. What we've felt is a substantial increase in the costs to deal with the pandemic as well.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
What would be the increase in cost for having wine or beer on the shelf? They're not necessarily perishable items, so what would be the increase in cost to selling a lot more beer and wine during this time?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
The incremental costs would be the social distancing in the store, the fewer people in the store, the plexiglass associated with the cashiers, the sanitization procedures and having somebody at the door to check the number of people going into the stores. All of these would be incremental costs.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Do you have a sense of the categories wherein you might have seen an increase in sales or in profitability during this time?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
Yes. We would have seen an increase in the centre of the stores, so grocery, flour, those types of items. We would have seen an increase in some of those items. As people went back to baking, baking goods would have increased as well.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Did you see a turnover in staff during this time? You mentioned you had hired approximately 20,000 more people. Was that due to staff turnover?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
It would have been a combination of the people who chose to stay home, or we suggested they stay home if they were vulnerable—and we did offer them pay during that period—and the people who chose to because they were worried, and the huge demand to make sure that we kept things in stock and provided Canadians with the essential service that we needed to. It was a combination of those.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Would it be a fair assessment that a new employee costs less than an employee who's been there for a while?
3:05 p.m.
President, Loblaw Companies Limited
Not necessarily. For a part-time person starting, it would be the same, depending on the length of service. It could be the same. It could be different.
3:05 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thank you.
I have a couple of questions for Mr. La Flèche.
In your testimony to Mr. Masse, you said you had reached out to some of your colleagues, asking what they were doing during this time. You had emailed and asked them so that you had a sense of what they were doing. Was this something you did on your own accord, or was there direction from your board to look for this information?
3:05 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
It was absolutely my own decision, after checking with the lawyers that it was all within legal boundaries—and it was. I made a few calls to ask what their intentions were on maintaining or ending the premium that was already announced, and that's it. The response I had was, “We haven't made a decision yet.”
3:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
What was your purpose for doing that? What was your intention in asking those types of questions?
3:10 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
I wanted as much information as I could in order to make the best decision for our company, our employees, at the right time. We had already announced that this was going to end on June 13. As we were getting closer to that day, it was still our plan to end on June 13. The more info I could get as to what was happening in the market, the better. Walmart had stopped two weeks prior to that. Others had reduced. We were getting close to that, so I wanted to get more info.
3:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Would you be willing to table these emails with this committee?
3:10 p.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Metro inc.
It was a phone call, not an email.
3:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tracy Gray Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
The content of the phone calls was basically asking what their timelines were, what they were doing. Can you give a little more information?