Madam Speaker, once is not a habit. Again, this government is trying to interfere in the affairs of Quebec and the provinces through the municipalities. Most of the rules governing food product and food donation management fall outside federal jurisdiction. I consider it my duty to remind my colleague of that. Either he has not done his homework and does not know where federal jurisdiction begins and ends, or this is a direct and repeated attack on Quebec's jurisdiction.
In either case, the Bloc Québécois will not let this initiative pass and will oppose the motion. Let no one put words in my mouth. I understand the noble intention involved. However, most of the solutions put forward in the motion have already been implemented, either by the Government of Quebec, or the federal government itself through the food policy for Canada. Is the Liberals' memory failing them?
Keep in mind that they were the ones who launched the preliminary public consultations on this food policy back in 2017. They were also the ones who developed it in 2018 and then announced it in the 2019 budget. Is this an admission of incompetence, an admission that their work is not producing tangible results, so they now feel compelled to outdo their own commitments?
A closer look at this so-called food policy quickly reveals that it is empty and effectively pointless. Unsurprisingly, it is inadequate. At one level, the Bloc Québécois agrees with the assessment. What we take issue with is the form this government's solution is taking.
A UN report published in 2021 reveals that Canada is the undisputed champion of food waste. According to the study, every Canadian throws away 79 kilograms of food a year, 20 kilograms more than the average American. In 2019, three million tonnes of food were thrown away in Canada. The report prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme estimates that nearly one billion tonnes of food were wasted around the world in 2019.
All of this comes at a cost. According to Quebec's department of agriculture, fisheries and food, food waste costs Canada an estimated $31 billion every year. While households are responsible for 47% of this waste, industry accounts for 53%. In Quebec, 3.1 million tonnes of food waste are discarded throughout the food supply chain, from the land or sea to the table.
In addition to being an inappropriate use of our resources, food waste generates greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change. As we know, a certain party in the House that wants to take office denies the existence of climate change. Both the party and its supporters deny climate change. We need to remind those who are watching us right now of that.
To address this issue, the Liberal government is proposing several measures in its motion. The first is to establish a national food waste hierarchy, which ranks the actions that need to be taken to reduce or avoid waste in order of priority. This is an important step, but one that has already been taken through the work and the research funded by the Quebec government and Recyc-Québec. Next, the motion proposes to align municipal and provincial regulations concerning food waste reduction and food donations, lead efforts to reduce the adverse environmental impact of unused food resources and establish protocols and partnerships to facilitate food redistribution and rescue efforts. However, most of the laws and regulations governing food waste fall under the jurisdiction of the Quebec and provincial governments. What the Liberal government is trying to tell us here is that the relationship between the federal and provincial governments is hierarchical, not complementary.
This interpretation of federalism is a reason in itself to oppose this motion, even though it is well intentioned. Let us set the record straight. Quebec and the provinces handle this specific matter in collaboration with municipalities and with the businesses and organizations involved in the production, processing, sale and donation of food products. The federal government is not involved.
Some might say that agriculture is a shared jurisdiction, so the food issue could be Ottawa's responsibility. However, the management of resources, land, processing and marketing in Quebec and the provinces is outside the federal government's purview.
The federal government helps with the development and funding of certain risk management, research and interprovincial and international trade programs, but it stops there. That has to be explained to my colleagues. Waste in general, waste management and certain food donation and sharing projects are governed by municipal by-laws and so, once again, Quebec and the provinces are responsible. It is my pleasure and duty to remind my Liberal colleagues of that.
Quebec's department of municipal affairs and housing, commonly referred to as MAMH, does not fall under federal jurisdiction either. Municipalities are not managed by the federal government, much as it wishes they were. Likewise, Quebec manages environmental and food safety legislation. The federal government has a role to play in food labelling more generally and in food safety when it comes to imports and exports. However, it has no concrete role to play in the context of the more general problem of waste.
Now that we have those clarifications, let us complete our list. Through this motion, the government wants to identify policy and fiscal incentives to reduce food waste and raise public awareness regarding food waste, food insecurity and associated government initiatives. The federal government could do those two things. However, it will have to take into account the special characteristics and initiatives of communities that already have established programs. This is called working collaboratively.
We have seen examples in several other sectors where the federal government believes it is helping, but it is actually making things more complicated by creating overlapping programs and unilaterally adding criteria that are not adapted to every situation. It will have to take into account the established environmental rules, the community structure and the connections already made by the groups. In Quebec, it is MAPAQ and MAMH that regulate food waste initiatives.
Many groups and organizations are also involved in tackling this problem, including the Association pour la santé publique du Québec, Recyc-Québec, community groups and municipalities. We also have a 2018-25 clean bio-food policy that includes two suggested courses of action, one aimed at reducing food waste and loss and promoting food donation, and one aimed at supporting the circular economy and recovering co-products.
Food waste was one of the themes identified as requiring further reflection and work at the May 2019 meeting of bio-food policy partners and in the 2018-23 bio-food policy action plan, which was released in January 2020. In addition, the 2021 edition of this action plan calls for the implementation of a food waste reduction project in co-operation with bio-food partners.
Let us also note that, in 2015, Quebec brought in tax measures to encourage food bank donations in an effort to reduce food waste and address food insecurity, including a tax credit for donations.
Quebec is doing something about this and we want this request to be respected. At the Bloc Québécois, we also want the meaningful positions adopted by Quebec to be respected. We are getting a sense that there is overlap in the work and no real respect for the roles and responsibilities set out in the Constitution. Let us not forget that Quebec has never signed that Constitution.
I get the impression that we are getting mired in motions that are slowing down our efforts. The ball is in the government's court.
Will the government take the ball and do something constructive?