Debates of Oct. 6th, 2022

Opposition Motion—High Food Prices

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Oh, oh!

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I would like it if people could hear our answers to questions. I think I did that properly.

The Speaker may want to check what I said and let me know if I followed the rules of the House. Acting wisely means considering all aspects of a debate, listening to what other people have to say, and using government money to help the less fortunate. We have to find the equilibrium there.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, the motion calls for:

(a) forcing CEOs and big corporations to pay what they owe, by closing the loopholes that have allowed them to avoid $30 billion in taxes in 2021 alone, resulting in a corporate tax rate that is effectively lower now than when this government was elected;

The motion talks about tax avoidance by all corporations in every sector to the tune of $30 billion. In fact, that corresponds to the difference between the corporate tax rate, which is 25%, and the rate corporations actually pay, which is around 15%. We have to be very careful when we make such statements since the gap between the tax rate and the effective tax rate is not necessarily due to abuse.

Parliament often adopts measures to provide tax breaks and tax credits to encourage good behaviour. Just look at the research and development tax credit and the production technology tax credits, which increase productivity and help limit the effects of the labour shortage. Look at the tax credit for clean technologies and the deductibility of contributions to pension plans and workers' group insurance plans.

All those credits lower the effective tax rate, but they are neither abuse nor fraud. It is false and inflammatory to suggest that inflation is due in large part to greedy corporations not paying their fair share of taxes.

Madam Speaker, I would ask the Liberals to respect decorum. I know they do not listen when members are speaking in French in the House, but they could at least keep quiet so as not to interfere with the business of the House.

[The Assistant Deputy Speaker, NDP, Carol Hughes]

Order.

I would like to remind members that, if they want to have discussions outside the time provided for questions and comments, they have to go to the lobby.

In the meantime, I will let the hon. member for Joliette continue his speech.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, we need a tax system that is fair and equitable. The system should be progressive, with the wealthy contributing more to support public services. Obviously, that should apply to corporate profits too.

To achieve a fair and equitable tax system, I urge parliamentarians to do much more to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance. Tax havens are becoming increasingly popular because of lax legislation. Companies open subsidiaries that are nothing but empty shells. They do not do anything. They exist solely for the purpose of tax evasion. By recording revenue in empty shells, profitable corporations declare next to no profits in countries with normal tax rules. That is how they avoid paying tax. These despicable schemes carried out with the help of unscrupulous experts are usually perfectly legal. That is what we call tax avoidance. We need to change the laws and regulations as soon as possible.

Wealthy individuals usually opt to shelter their fortunes and their income in tax havens where information is less transparent so they can cheat the tax system. That kind of fraud is tax evasion. It is also important to note that organized crime and terrorist groups use tax havens.

According to the World Bank, in 2016, tax havens held more than $36 trillion U.S. Yes, I said $36 trillion U.S. The situation is probably even worse today.

According to economist Gabriel Zucman, in 2017, no less than 40% of international financial transactions involved tax havens in some way.

The International Monetary Fund estimates that the use of tax havens costs governments $600 billion a year in lost corporate income tax revenue and $200 billion in lost individual income tax revenue, for a total of $800 billion.

As expert Alain Deneault notes, everyone else has to make up this shortfall, either by paying higher taxes or by enduring austerity policies.

Considering their impact on government finances and operations, tax havens are a major political issue. The public wants them to disappear, but those profiting from them want them to stay. As the IMF concluded, “the wealthier the individual and the larger the multinational corporation...the more deeply they are embedded in the offshore system and the more vigorously they defend it”. That has to change.

Statistics Canada reports that Canadian corporations invested $381 billion in the top 12 tax havens in 2019. That is nearly one-third of all Canadian foreign investment.

In a 2019 report, the Parliamentary Budget Officer found that “financial flows between Canada and certain jurisdictions are disproportionately large compared to their GDP”. This proves that those amounts are not genuine investments, but rather accounting manoeuvres aimed at evading taxes.

Also in 2019, the CRA estimated that the use of tax havens by Canadian companies could be costing the treasury up to $11.4 billion in lost revenue, more than three-quarters of which would be from large corporations. That is four times more than the CRA had estimated that it was losing to individuals' use of tax havens in a report published the previous year. That amount is undoubtedly vastly underestimated.

In fact, the CRA was only considering schemes that were fraudulent or dubious, not those that were perfectly legal, as “its report does not estimate the gap resulting from ‘legal’ tax avoidance through profit shifting”, which is much greater.

The federal government is complacent with respect to the fraud and abuse that takes place with the use of tax havens. Parliament allocates ever higher amounts to help the agency tackle the problem, but nothing happens and we are not seeing results. Not only is the government complacent in going after fraudsters but it has essentially legalized the use of tax havens.

Unlike the NDP motion, which only condemns the greed of bad companies and accuses them of causing inflation, the Bloc Québécois's more constructive approach specifically targets the problem of tax avoidance with the use of foreign tax havens. We are proposing six possible solutions.

First, amend the Income Tax Act and the Income Tax Regulations to ensure that income that Canadian corporations repatriate from their subsidiaries in tax havens ceases to be exempt from tax in Canada.

Second, review the concept of permanent establishment so that income reported by shell companies created abroad by Canadian taxpayers for tax purposes is taxed in Canada.

Third, require banks and other federally regulated financial institutions to disclose, in their annual reports, a list of their foreign subsidiaries and the amount of tax they would have been subject to had their income been reported in Canada.

Fourth, review the tax regime applicable to digital multinationals, whose operations do not depend on having a physical presence, to tax them based on where they conduct business rather than where they reside. Progress is being made in that regard.

Fifth, work toward establishing a global registry of actual beneficiaries of shell companies to more effectively combat tax evasion.

Sixth, and finally, use the global financial crisis caused by the pandemic to launch, or relaunch, a strong offensive at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development against tax havens with the aim of eradicating them for good.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech, and I hope that Bloc Québécois members bring all of those points forward in their next opposition day motion. It would be a bit much if we included all of that in ours today, but I think we totally agree with the member.

I will bring up one example that I would like to talk about here in the House, because it shows how egregious these offshore tax havens are.

A Canadian mining company had a big mine in Mongolia, and over the course of five years or so, it was facing $600 million in Canadian tax and $200 million in Mongolian tax. However, the company opened a post office box, not an office, in Luxembourg and wrote to the CRA to ask if it was legitimate. The CRA said it could go for it because it was perfectly legal. The company ended up paying no tax in Canada, no tax in Mongolia and $80 million in tax to Luxembourg, and it is legal. We have to change this.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, I completely agree with my colleague that this has to change. We just need the government to show some political will. The problem is that the power keeps bouncing back and forth between two parties that have no interest in doing anything about it, so it remains legal.

The kind of scheme my colleague described would simply be illegal in many other countries, and possibly even punishable by imprisonment. Here, companies ask for advice and are told that everything is just fine. If there is a problem, they are told to simply pay the tax they should have paid, without any further consequences. Meanwhile, people would go to jail in many other countries.

This has to change, but the government needs to show the political will to change it.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons]

Madam Speaker, I had the opportunity to listen to quite a bit of the debate today, and I guess the overriding concern that I have is the bottom line, which is the cost of inflation with respect to food for the constituents I represent. This is something that is so critically important for all of us.

The debate on the floor of the House of Commons here in Ottawa has an impact in itself. I would ask the member if he agrees that, since the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food will now be looking at this, in part because of this debate, the committee has a great opportunity to ensure that there is going to be more accountability in terms of the cost of food in Canada today.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for his speech.

When it comes to the work of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, we should draw inspiration from what the British Parliament is doing. We know that the food distribution sector is an oligopoly. Do its members engage in reprehensible practices? Did they take advantage of their position and increase profits off the backs of the thousands of farmers who compete with each other or the millions of consumers who buy their products? Was there collusion that would explain these excessive profits?

The Competition Bureau should look into this. The British Parliament has given that mandate to its competition bureau. As stated in this motion, the Competition Bureau should be given the mandate to study whether there is collusion that resulted in excessive profits, and then we can intervene. It is our duty to give this mandate to the Competition Bureau.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, it is always exciting and interesting to hear my colleague speak so passionately.

Is Canada's Competition Bureau doing enough? Can it be given a stricter mandate and should it be given a stricter mandate?

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend from Beauport—Limoilou for her question and for the excellent and tireless work she does in the House.

The Competition Bureau is not doing enough at the moment. Obviously, it is up to the government and the House to tell it to do more, to take on more cases, conduct more studies and intervene more.

Competition is very important. I will remind members of the time Rona was sold to the American company Lowe's. The Competition Bureau had the power to do something about that but chose not to, and, in my view, that deal was bad for the Quebec economy.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Nunavut.

I am pleased to rise today to speak to the motion in the name of my esteemed colleague from Cowichan—Malahat—Langford. I commend him on his excellent advocacy on behalf of workers and producers in the agricultural sector. I also commend our leader, the member for Burnaby South, for his unwavering fight to force CEOs and big corporations to pay what they owe and to tackle the corporate greed that has gouged families in every corner of our country.

As more and more people struggle to make ends meet, wealthy CEOs are raking in record profits. To make matters worse, workers' wages are not keeping up with these rising profits or inflation. The motion we are debating today is a logical and responsible response to alleviate the burden being placed on workers, families, seniors and Canadians as a whole by closing the tax loopholes the government and its Conservative counterparts continue to support, allowing these already-wealthy CEOs and big corporations to avoid paying $30 billion in taxes in 2021 alone.

After seven years in government, the Liberals continue to allow ultrarich CEOs and large corporations to avoid paying their fair share. While making these profits, they are stagnating the wages of workers and increasing prices. After seven years of government promises to be there for people and have large corporations pay their fair share, we are instead where we are today, with large corporations continuing to benefit off the backs of everyday Canadians.

While the Conservatives continue to make noise, they continue to prop up the ultrarich while leaving people behind. The Conservatives will always have the backs of their wealthy friends, not those who need it most. While the new Conservative leader was minister, the Conservatives cut the tax audit of the wealthiest and prioritized excessive CEO profits. While the Conservatives fight against children having dental care, they step back and prop up the Liberals to continue, as they always have, refusing to have those making the most pay their fair share.

My NDP colleagues and I continue to fight for people, as we always have. Instead of sitting idly and continuing with the status quo of the rich getting richer, we continue to pressure the Liberals to make the wealthiest CEOs pay what they owe and to stop the price gouging they are doing to people.

I want to take a moment to look at what we are talking about exactly. While Canadians pay the price for rising food, billionaire Galen Weston, chairman of Loblaw Companies, which includes stores like Real Canadian Superstore and Extra Foods, has increased dividends to shareholders from $118 million to $125 million by 2022. While shareholders reap the profits, more and more Canadians are having to cut back on the amount of food they buy. As a matter of fact, 23.6% of Canadians in a recent survey identified having to do so. We are not talking about Canadians having to cut back on luxuries here. We are talking about Canadians having to cut back on the basics: bread, milk, meat, fruits and veggies.

Canadians not having access to nutritious foods impacts us all. Prior to entering federal politics, my work was focused on the many symptoms of poverty and fighting for those who have the least to access their most basic human rights, such as a home, food on the table and the head-to-toe health care they deserve. I worked on the front lines with those who are almost always forgotten in the decisions being made by the federal government. The decisions made in this very chamber impact the lives of Canadians in endless ways. Every decision is an opportunity to do better, and this is even more true at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet.

Children are among those most impacted by these decisions. In my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, over half of children of lone-parent families live in poverty. Imagine for a moment a parent working hard to provide for their children, yet regardless of how hard they work, the money coming in does not cover even the most basic expenses. To make matters worse, the cost of living continues to increase, leaving them further behind than they were when they began.

I understand first-hand the frustration and hopelessness that parents trying to give their kids the best start in life experience and feel when all the systems surrounding them have set them up for failure. No matter how hard they work, they are always worried about how they are going to keep a roof over their heads, healthy food in their kids' stomachs and even transportation to school. However, children in Canada, who will one day be the ones to make decisions about our well-being, are often an afterthought.

There is no reason that children in Canada should not have access to healthy, nutritious foods. We know healthy foods are essential to the development and learning of children, yet while I was working in schools and had the honour to serve as a school board trustee, I saw too many children show up to school hungry. This impacted children in endless ways, with increased misbehaviour and challenges in learning, and now we know that the number of children showing up to school hungry continues to increase.

I am thankful for the work of so many on the ground in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith who continue to do what is best for our communities despite the challenges that are being faced. I think of Nanaimo Foodshare, as one example, which continues to provide what it calls “good food boxes”. These boxes are offered on a pay-as-one-can basis to members of the community and include seven to nine varieties of whole fruits and vegetables, all packed and provided by the hard work of local volunteers. I also think of the Ladysmith Resources Centre Association, which offers a food recovery program that collects food from commercial production and distribution channels and redistributes it to those in need.

We know that those using food banks are disproportionately women, children, indigenous and racialized individuals, and those living with disabilities. Nanaimo Loaves & Fishes Community Food Bank in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith has distributed 2.4 million pounds of food, valued at $6.5 million, to people on Vancouver Island directly or through first nation communities, non-profits, food banks and schools.

Clearly, as Canadians, we carry on the deep-rooted values of taking care of one another, but the onus of responsibility should not be laid on the shoulders of members of our communities. We need federal leadership that prioritizes people first, not the profits of rich CEOs. The trickle effect of the lack of federal leadership can be felt at every level: provincial and territorial, municipal, first nations and even school boards. Our municipalities and school boards, for example, should not be left to pick up the pieces where the government has failed with minimal resources to do so. Nobody benefits from this.

It is not just children who are impacted by the government's inaction. The number of seniors trying to make ends meet with low, fixed incomes while costs continue to increase is also on the rise. In 2018, 12% of seniors in Nanaimo were living in poverty, and we know that this number has seen steep inclines since. I heard from a senior recently, who wrote to me and said, “I am a senior who is just trying to live on a fixed income. Rent increases, cost of food, just too much to list. We were the people who helped build this country and we need to see some help please.”

There are also those who get up in the morning and head to work daily in order to provide for their families. They are also unable to make ends meet. It is sad to see so many working hard, day in and day out, and still struggling. This is just not right.

The cost of so many people struggling impacts us all in many ways. We know that as the number of people struggling to make ends meet increases, so do the needs within our health care system, as just one example. When we take care of one another and remain proactive with the ways we do so, we all benefit. It costs us all to leave people behind.

That is why the motion we are debating today is so important. While so many are going hungry in our country, wealthy CEOs are making record profits. It is time we force CEOs and big, wealthy corporations to pay what they owe so that this money can go where we need it most: back to people.

It is time to launch an affordable and fair food strategy that tackles corporate greed in the grocery sector and includes a full investigation into grocery chain profits, while increasing the ways we can hold them to account for abusing their positions for gain. It is time to remember that the decisions we make today impact people and that nobody benefits when we line the pockets of the ultrarich at the expense of Canadians.

I am happy to vote in support of this motion to do what is right for people, and I hope my colleagues in this chamber will do the same.

[Stéphane Lauzon, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Rural Economic Development]

Madam Speaker, I thank my NDP colleague for her speech and her passion for this file.

We have been hearing a lot more about inflation and tax havens in recent speeches. However, we know that the food issue, particularly regarding food prices and inflation on store shelves, is more complicated than that.

Will the committee study of this motion take into account our farmers and factors like climate change, labour shortages, the next generation of farmers, the effects of the illegal war in Ukraine and any other elements that contribute to higher prices in our stores?

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, it is clear that this issue is complex. There are many different factors that we need to be looking at.

However, in response to the member's question, I will quote from an article about Jim Stanford, an economist and director of the Centre for Future Work, who says that when people spend more on shopping, it inflates supermarket profits. This is “acting as a kind of trickle-up economics and transferring wealth from the poorest to the richest.

“The inflation we're seeing ‘wasn't caused by wages,’ Stanford said, or by workers. ‘It's caused by greed.’”

This is why this motion is so important. We need to look at what is happening, look at the greedflation that is happening around us and finally start having those who are profiting off the backs of Canadians pay their fair share.

[Adam Chambers, Conservative, Simcoe North, ON]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the enthusiasm of the speech, but I would like her to respond to a couple of things. When corporations pay dividends, those dividends go to Canadian pensioners. We have to remember that a lot of Canadians rely on the income they get from their pensions.

We will hear no opposition from this side of the House to corporations paying their fair share. We believe that, before we think about increasing taxes on Canadians, we should make people pay the taxes they actually owe.

Is the NDP willing to accept the results of the investigation at the agriculture committee, or does it already have its mind made up because it is good politics? The average net margins in grocery store are about 2% to 4%. It has been that way for about 10 years, and that is what they are right now.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, I hope this is supported and goes to committee so we can look at the results from witnesses and from those who are seeing, first-hand, the impacts.

What we know is that currently the system is set up to be lining the pockets of the ultrarich at the expense of everyday Canadians. I cannot reiterate that more than today. We are seeing the trickle impact. When I was in a level of government that was very local, we could see the impacts of federal inaction and how it trickles down to everyday people on the ground.

We need to be flipping this on its head and starting to make choices that benefit workers, seniors and children in our communities.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Madam Speaker, the Bloc Québécois is proposing measures to combat inflation. It is suggesting, for example, helping people who are hardest hit by inflation, including pensioners, who are often on a fixed income.

I did not hear the NDP say anything about that. Still, I do think that the NDP MPs are also concerned about inflation. I would like to know if we can count on the NDP's support to help our seniors have better living conditions.

[Lisa Marie Barron, NDP, Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC]

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the emphasis on seniors, and I most definitely mentioned this, although it may have been missed, in my speech. I spoke of seniors who are living off of fixed incomes, who are feeling the burden of the cost of living continuing to increase while the income they are receiving remains fixed and, by far, does not bring in enough to make ends meet.

Absolutely, anything that we can do to provide seniors with dignity and respect into their retirement, and to ensure that they are able to put food on their tables, I am in support of. I would be happy to continue the conversation with my colleague from the Bloc.

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, big grocery stores are taking too much from struggling Canadians. Much of the time the north experiences unique challenges. Unfortunately, the north is not immune to this issue.

NorthMart, owned by the North West Company, reported net earnings of over $150 million in 2021. This is nearly a 10% increase from the year before. Canadians need answers. Shareholders profited from increased prices while families went hungry.

In Nunavut, one in four households are severely food insecure. Food Banks Canada reported that many of these families are female-led. It said that, in 2020, the cost to feed a family of four in Iqaluit was roughly $1,721 per month. In Ottawa, that cost was around $868. That is almost doubled in Iqaluit. No one should have to worry about putting food on the table. Nunavummiut have been past this breaking point for years.

The current inflation has worsened the situation for my constituents. The federal nutrition north program is failing to make a meaningful difference. The price of bread ranges from three dollars to five dollars. In the rest of Canada, that price is less than two dollars. Subsidies from the federal nutrition north program should be going to families. Instead, the $103-million program is failing to make a difference in the price of food. Grocery stores are using the money for their own interests. In return, food prices continue to climb. Nunavummiut deserve answers.

Nunavut is being geodiscriminated against because food needs to be flown into communities. With no competitive regulations, food costs continue to climb with no intervention. Nunavummiut are forced to pay these costs because there are no alternatives. Without a competitive food market, costs will go unregulated. Southern companies line their pockets with profits while northern communities go without. Northern retailers receive a subsidy for every kilogram of staple food they ship to northern communities. There are no rules on pricing. They are taking advantage of the money, and the families in Nunavut are the ones who suffer.

Climate change and corporate greed are making it more difficult for Inuit to have access to traditional foods. Caribou populations are declining, and increased stress on other species is having an effect. By limiting what can be harvested, there is more reliance on food from grocery stores.

Food insecurity in the north is the longest-lasting public health emergency in Canadian history. This problem is not a new one, but it is one that continues to be ignored. The wages of workers are not keeping up with food costs. Children are going to school hungry. Food is a human right, not a luxury, but the current price of food is saying otherwise. Change needs to happen. We cannot keep going at this rate.

CEOs and big corporations are not paying what they owe. My community and others like it are suffering. Corporate greed will not stop unless we make it stop. An investigation needs to occur. The penalties for price-fixing need to be more strict. A slap on the wrist is not enough. One company should not have this much power.

I thank poverty advocate Irene Breckon, from Elliot Lake, a member of the riding of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing, who initiated the class action lawsuit that brought this issue to light.

Shipping costs can no longer be an excuse for the rising costs of food. We need to look at the root of the problem. Nearly $30 billion in taxes were avoided in 2021 by CEOs and big corporations. This is where the problem is. This is where change needs to happen. Canadians deserve answers.

We need to support the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. Action needs to happen. Data needs to be made available. My community deserves answers. Without a competitive food market, tinfoil can be priced at $64. Indigenous communities will continue to be at risk at this rate.

[Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment]

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my hon. colleague from Nunavut for her incredibly important and unique perspective, and for sharing that with the House for this critical debate.

Residents in my riding of Windsor—Tecumseh are also concerned about the high price of groceries. They are also seeing the skyrocketing profits of grocery store chains. I, too, applaud the work of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, and specifically calling CEOs of grocery stores in to testify.

What would be the first question the hon. colleague would ask the CEOs testifying at this committee?

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, the first question I would ask is how they formulate profits over prices, because prices do not need to be at the cost of profits going to CEOs.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Madam Speaker, over the summer I had a chance to visit Yukon. I went to the north and spoke with some people who are farming up in the north.

I was blown away by what they are doing with very little compared to what we have here. Where I am from, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex in southwestern Ontario, we have a plethora agriculture. We are right in the heart of fruit and vegetable production. What they were doing in the north was nothing short of a miracle, growing fresh fruit and vegetables. I was impressed with how they actually do have a selection in the north.

That being said, with prices continually rising for inputs, whether it is fertilizer or carbon tax on the transportation to get the goods up to the north, we are seeing increases at the farm gate. I can speak from experience. As somebody who is growing agricultural products right now, who is farming, I see my inputs going up, which means that I will have to pass that cost on to the next person down the chain, the grocer who is buying it to resell. If I am seeing an price increase, there is going to be a price increase at the grocery store.

Could the member comment on what the government could be doing to help reduce some of those costs at the farm gate so we could have more affordable production of food in this country?

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, the realities in Nunavut are very different from the other northern territories, NWT and Yukon, so food production is quite different.

For Nunavut, one of the ways that improvements could be made is to better support hunters and harvesters who still rely on subsistence hunting, which they do not get enough support for. I would definitely professionalize the systems in which Inuit thrive in the Arctic and find a way to make sure we are reducing reliance on government programs so more individuals could be self-sufficient with the skills they have.

[Julie Vignola, Bloc, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Madam Speaker, as my colleagues have said today, some of the astronomical profits made by the large grocery store chains come from the fact that there are research and development tax credits, among others. I will not list them all.

My question is the following. If these tax credits would help us develop the means for the north to have high-quality, fresh affordable food, would the reinvestment of these profits into research and development be more acceptable to my colleague?

[Lori Idlout, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Uqaqtittiji, I was very recently in Greenland with other parliamentarians at the Arctic parliamentarians summit, and we had the great pleasure of visiting a greenhouse facility that runs on hydroponics. It was such a great example of what can happen in Arctic communities, and we need to model those kinds of examples. If they can work in Greenland, they should be able to work in Nunavut as well.