Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Milton.
Today, we are discussing a motion that was passed in committee and sent over to the House. It is a report specifically on excess profit tax on large grocery companies. It states:
Given that the Canadian grocery sector made more than $6 billion in profit in 2023 and that millions of Canadians have reported food insecurity in the last year, the Standing Committee on Finance call on the government to immediately take action by implementing an excess profit tax on large grocery companies that would put money back in the people's pocket with a GST rebate and establish a National School Food Program, and that this motion be reported to the House.
My understanding, based on going back and looking at the committee minutes, is that this was supported by all the Liberal, Bloc and NDP members on the committee. I think it is a really good motion.
I certainly agree with the motion, especially with the part on the national school food program. This is a program that has organically come from communities and from Canadians. I know I heard NDP members say earlier that this was their initiative. I actually do not think that it was. I think that this was an initiative that was born out of need, but also born out of what was already taking place in so many communities.
In the city of Kingston, we have the Food Sharing Project, which has been around since the eighties. Basically, it is a volunteer organization led by Andy Mills in Kingston. Every day, its members pack up food and send it out to schools.
One of the most interesting things that I found, and one of the reasons I thought this was an incredible program, was this. When I toured the program, I brought my children with me, Frankie and Vivian, who are seven and five. Frankie suddenly realized where the food was coming from that he would see in school.
I really thought the program was unique. What made this program so incredibly successful, and why the government needed to fund this program, was because it helps to break down stigmas and stereotypes. According to my children, it is not just the “poor kids” who have access to this food. As a matter of fact, according to my daughter, who is in senior kindergarten, there are often discussions about which piece of food or which granola bar they are going to get from the special snack station.
My point is that this is something that all kids look at and think is normal. It is not associated to or creating stereotypes that some kids need this food and others do not. I think that is incredibly powerful. At such an early age, children should be taught not to judge others based on their needs. That is why I supported this.
That is why when people from my community came to see me to really push the federal government to put this program into this particular budget, it was something that I worked with them on. I barely did anything, but my constituents went to all the schools, collected petitions and garnered support. They gave those petitions to me so I could present them to the House.
I imagine that similar things happened in communities throughout Canada. I really look at the national school food program as a grassroots program that has taken hold based on need, based on a desire to break down stereotypes, and based on treating all kids equally at such a young age. That is what we have.
The other part of this motion speaks specifically to an excess profit tax. I have been asked many times by my NDP colleagues how I feel about an excess profit tax. On the surface level, I have nothing against it. In particular, when we are dealing with an industry that has very few players, effectively we have a joint monopoly or an oligopoly, and they are basically setting prices. The grocery industry has been found guilty in the past of fixing prices. We remember the bread-fixing scheme that went on a number of years ago. Whether it is out of malice and is intended, or whether it just grows out of the lack of competition, it still happens.
Therefore, when we talk about an excess profit tax, and I know we talk about it from the oil industry perspective too, I am really intrigued by having the discussion, because I think it is one that is important to have, but I have a question and a concern. I tried to ask the House leader for the NDP a question, but he did not answer, about what happens when and if the oligopoly partners end up just transferring that tax over to consumers. If we have so few players in the industry, let us say there are three major players, Loblaws being one of them, and we add this tax on, what is to stop them from just marginally increasing everything again to cover the tax? Then we have not accomplished what we set out to do; we have not met the objective.
Maybe there is an easy answer to this. Maybe the NDP would say that if we do a particular thing then it will prevent that from happening. That is what I was trying to understand earlier when I was asking the question. Maybe my concern can be put to rest very easily by addressing that point. Therefore, I want to have conversations about this excess profit tax on these large industries like the grocery and oil industries, but I want to do it in a responsible way. I want to do it in a way that ensures that whatever comes out of it actually produces the intended result, which is to return some of these excess profits created out of the monopolistic environment back to the consumers who are being taken advantage of in the practice of the monopoly or oligopoly. That is my main concern with respect to this. I would love to have a conversation about how the NDP would ensure that does not happen.
On the surface, I certainly appreciate this. I understand that the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc members all voted in favour of this. I think on a surface level it makes a lot of sense. There are some details that I would like to understand a little more clearly before I vote on this, but I will say that the national school food program is an incredible program that I know already works because I see a volunteer version of it at our local level and I know of the success it can create. I think it would help with food insecurity and with breaking down stereotypes. It will also give young children who are growing up the best shot at life and their educational experience if they are not going to school hungry.
I find it very concerning that Conservatives, who will likely vote against this because of their connection to large companies, tend to raise the alarm bells on food bank usage, but then literally in the next action will not do anything to actually help people who are faced with food insecurity. With respect to the national school food program, before any money was even put behind it, when it was just a concept, they voted against it. They have indicated that they will vote against this budget, which includes money for that. It would be easy for them to separate out the items of the budget they do support and vote in favour of those, but they do not because it just seems that they are insistent on not doing anything that possibly could give this government a win.
I will leave it at that. I look forward to listening to the rest of the debate on this and coming to a conclusion as to how I will vote when we are asked to vote on this, I presume tomorrow.