Mr. Speaker, Canadians are being bled dry at the pump and the grocery till, on their phone and Internet bills, and by mortgage and credit card payments that keep climbing. People are doing everything they can just to get by, but every month it gets harder, not easier. While families struggle to keep their heads above water, the biggest corporations in this country are posting record profits. RBC made $16 billion, Rogers made $1.7 billion, Loblaws made over $2 billion, and Imperial Oil made almost $1 billion in the last quarter alone. The question is fair: How much profit is enough? Is there a limit? When will the government actually take some action?
Across this country, Canadians are getting a raw deal. Our phone bills are among the highest in the world. A 2023 study found Canada has the 10th-highest median price per gigabyte of data globally, higher than every country in Europe except for Switzerland. Canadians pay up to 26 times more for data than people in France do, yet Bell still made $6.3 billion in profits and laid off 700 workers. This is not a result of healthy competition; this is what happens when a handful of powerful corporations are allowed to dominate a market.
At the grocery store, families are expected to pay about $1,000 more next year just to feed their households. Meanwhile, Loblaws made more than $2 billion in profits after settling a $500-million case for fixing the price of bread over 15 years. At the same time, food bank usage has hit record levels nationwide. Families are forced to choose between rent and groceries.
In the oil and gas sector, it is the same story. Imperial Oil made nearly $1 billion last quarter and more than $5 billion last year. Then what did it do? It laid off nearly 1,000 workers. All of this happens while abandoned wells sit unrepaired, environmental liabilities grow and communities are left to deal with the costs. Profits are privatized, but the cleanup is a public expense.
We now have the lowest corporate taxes in the G7 and the highest corporate profits in our history. At the same time, Statistics Canada reports that the gap between the richest two-fifths and the poorest two-fifths of Canadians has reached the widest point ever recorded. This is what happens when we normalize out-of-control corporate greed. Corporate consolidation only makes it worse. Rogers swallowed up Shaw for $26 billion. RBC bought HSBC for $13.5 billion. The result is fewer choices for Canadians and more power for large corporations to raise prices however they want. Under successive Conservative and Liberal governments, this is what has happened.
Even in the U.K., Conservative governments recognized that profits had grown out of control. The U.K. introduced an excess profits tax on oil and gas companies, a measure that raised over six billion euros in just two years and helped support households struggling with the cost of living.
New Democrats want businesses to succeed. We want everyone to win. We believe in innovation, investment and good jobs. However, success should never come from gouging Canadians or driving families into debt. Therefore, again I ask: How much profit is enough? Is there a threshold? Will the Liberal government finally include an excess profits tax in the upcoming spring economic statement? Will it stand up for Canadians instead of corporate boardrooms?
It is time to act, because Canadians simply cannot afford more excuses. This place is starting to feel like a corporate boardroom. This is the opportunity for the government to show Canadians they matter and that they are a priority ahead of the big corporations.