Industry Committee on June 12th, 2024

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Péladeau, I was just feeling through this and thinking in terms of the identification of companies for products and so forth. You brought up an excellent point: why even bother having to notify? Am I correct in that you would be in support of having one brand for the major company?

I went on the website of one of your competitors and couldn't find any of the affiliated companies they have through their corporate structure being advertised there. You really have to do some extra work to identify these companies. I don't think that's good for competition, in the sense that it's false competition in many respects, once they gobble them up.

What are your thoughts on that, please?

[Pierre Karl Péladeau]

That's in this industry. In the meantime, it's also equivalent in other industries. You have premium brands, then low-cost brands. We call these “flanker brands” and “fighter brands”. These will address specific segments of the customer base. Should Fido be known as Rogers? Usually, if you go into a shopping mall, you'll find that Fido is just beside Rogers. That doesn't mean they address the same market. I think it's different.

At the end of the day, giving choices until.... You know, obviously, there are many players in the marketplace that will be beneficial for consumers.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you.

That's my last question, Mr. Chair.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rick Perkins]

Thank you, MP Masse.

For the last question or two, we have MP Williams.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be pretty quick.

Mr. Charlebois, we spent a lot of time talking about grocery stores, but manufacturers are showing record profits. There are only so many of them—PepsiCo, Tyson Foods, Nestlé and Kraft Heinz. Besides the profits, one way these manufacturers get away with increased prices is by shrinking their products. Shrinkflation means they slowly shrink their products down, so there's less product for more money.

Should shrinkflation be outlawed?

[Dr. Sylvain Charlebois]

I don't think so. It is a practice that has been around for decades.

I have two concerns about shrinkflation.

One is that we have some data at the lab showing that, perhaps, Statistic Canada doesn't really take into account the impact of shrinkflation on food inflation, generally speaking. In other words, because it doesn't do that—and it mentions on a website that it measures that, but we don't see the evidence of it—it could mean that Statistics Canada is underestimating food inflation. That's one thing.

The other thing goes back to taxation at retail. A CRA rule suggests that for certain products, if they're reduced to a certain point, they become snacks. We call it the snack tax. They go from a food to a snack. For example, if you see a container of ice cream going under 500 millilitres, it becomes a taxable item. A lot of Canadians don't recognize that when they go to a grocery store, they have to look at the receipt. Sometimes, taxes aren't itemized on receipts, so it's hard to tell.

Those are the things I think we need to address here in order for Canadians to understand what shrinkflation is actually doing to them directly, other than the fact that they're getting less for the same amount. I think that with Statistics Canada and the CRA, these are two things that we need to look into more seriously.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Rick Perkins]

Thank you, MP Williams.

I want to thank the witnesses. This has been an interesting study on Bill C-352, MP Singh's private member's bill.

I want to thank Professor Charlebois for his testimony, as well as Monsieurs Pierre Karl Péladeau Jean Péladeau, and Monsieur Lescadres. Thank you very much for your time and your testimony. It was very insightful.

With the committee's permission, this meeting is adjourned.