Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to speak to a committee report that was instigated by the NDP. This is the 19th report of the Standing Committee on Finance. I want to read the conclusion of the report into the record because it is important that Canadians know what the NDP has been fighting for.
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.
The reason the finance committee ultimately adopted that NDP motion and said that it be reported to the House is for the discussions we are having this evening. I would like to thank the member for Vancouver Kingsway for bringing this forward.
The reality is that it is true that Canadians are living with more food insecurity. The last 20 years have been absolutely dismal. As members know, the dismal decade under the former Harper regime was a terrible time for Canadians. We saw Conservatives in an unbelievably bad government. It was a horrible government from a whole range of perspectives. The cost of housing doubled over the course of that dismal decade. The food bank lineups doubled as well.
Why did that happen? It happened not only because Conservatives were absolutely terrible administrators but also because they were concerned only with communication and not concerned in any way with actively governing in the interests of Canadians. The Harper regime was terrible in that respect. However, it also gave away the store with the infamous Stephen Harper tax haven treaties. At the end of this period, this dismal decade, the food bank lineups were increasing and the cost of housing doubling. The Parliamentary Budget Officer calculated that the net cost every year in taxpayer dollars of the infamous Harper tax haven treaties was $30 billion. Members should think about that. We were giving away $30 billion to the wealthiest of Canadians, to the largest and most-profitable corporations, so that they could simply take their money offshore to tax havens and never pay a cent in tax. That is tax they should have been paying that would have essentially taken care of all these other issues that I have been talking about, such as the doubling of the food bank lineups and the fact that housing costs doubled. The Harper government built no housing at all. It was just a horrible, terrible time.
Then 2015 came along and the Liberals said that they were going to change all that; however, they kept the Harper tax haven treaties and all the sweetheart deals that the Harper government put in place. Nevertheless, with the NDP pushing them, they have done a number of things that certainly make it a better government than what we had in the terrible, horrible 10 years under the Harper regime. Nevertheless, in reality, because they kept the infrastructure of what the Harper government put into place, we see the same results over the last decade. As we know, the food bank lineups have doubled again. They doubled under the Conservatives, and they have now doubled under the Liberals. The cost of housing has doubled again. It doubled under the Conservatives and has doubled under the Liberals.
It is no surprise to members that the NDP takes a different approach. We would not be giving $30 billion a year away to tax havens. We would not be saying to the billionaires and the wealthiest corporations that they could do whatever the hell they want, that there would be no issue there as long as they do not bother us, because some of us would get lobbying jobs and everybody will be happy. That is not how it turned out. As members know, housing is now in a crisis. Conservatives bear 50% of the responsibility and the Liberals the other 50%. For the food bank lineups, Conservatives bear 50% of the responsibility and the Liberals bear the other 50%.
What we have seen consistently over this terrible 20-year period, as well, is that the lobbyist revolving door has made things difficult for many Canadian families. We see this with the Conservatives, with their campaign manager being a Loblaws lobbyist and the deputy leader being a lobbyist. We have seen this under the Liberals as well. The grocery giants that have been gouging Canadians over the course of this period have gotten off with impunity, with $6 billion of profit in 2023.
I will come back, in a moment, to what Canadians' perceptions are of the grocery giants and the impunity that they were equally given by Conservatives and by Liberals. Both sides should take 50% of the burden. One could say that the NDP's initiatives on anti-scab legislation, pharmacare, dental care and housing have helped to address that but not nearly as much as an NDP government would, as we know.
If one thinks that 25 NDP MPs, the worker bees of Parliament, the adults in the room, can make such a difference, to actually start to fight for regular people, just imagine what we would do with 200 MPs. My goodness, we would not be giving tens of billions of dollars to billionaires and to wealthy corporations to take offshore. We would be making sure that seniors are living with an adequate income. We would be making sure that affordable housing is built in this country. We would be making sure that health care covers us from the tops of our heads to the soles of our feet. We would be investing in post-secondary education, job creation and clean energy. It would be a much better country.
For the moment, Canadians gave us 25 members in this Parliament. With that, we have achieved quite a bit, but there is much more to do. The fact that we are seeing these high profits from the grocery giants is one example of that.
The member for Burnaby South presented a bill to increase the abilities of the Competition Bureau to actually crack down on food price gouging. This is a substantial and important initiative. The NDP pushed, as well, to get provisions of those Competition Act changes into the fall economic statement. That is the bill that passed Parliament just a few days ago. Canadians can see the NDP making a difference; the Competition Bureau's enhanced abilities will start to push against the grocery giants, the three big chains, which are continuing to gouge Canadians.
The reality is that we have to do more. That is why this motion has been brought forward. We talk about implementing an excess profits tax on large grocery companies, as well as the national school food program. Let me start with the excess profits tax.
This is not something that is alien to Canada. In fact, during the Second World War, we had to mobilize the entire country to fight hard, to make sure that we were pushing back against Nazism and Fascism. At that time in our history, the government chose to put in place an excess profits tax. It was 75% of excess profits.
It made a big difference. It prevented food price gouging and the kinds of gouging we are seeing today. It was an accepted tool that reined in the biggest companies in Canada so that they would not gouge Canadians. We were successful, both in our fight in the Second World War and in using the benefits of the excess profits tax to ensure, coming out of the war, that we were doing what was important so that our quality of life in Canada grew.
Of course, as we know, for the history books, that meant the construction of highways and sewage treatment plants, education, educational facilities, hospitals and housing. Three million units of affordable housing were built across the country in just over three years, including our home, which is in New Westminster on Glover Avenue. Comfortable homes were built by Canadian craftsmen because the federal government said that we needed to build affordable housing now for our returning men and women in the service. Our home was built in 1948. The houses on the block were all built at the same time.
At that time, we had a government that understood the importance of building affordable housing. Therefore, an excess profits tax is not new or different. It is something that we have used in the past when we have been in crisis.
Surely members would agree with me that, when we have seen a doubling under the Conservatives and then a doubling under the Liberals of the price of housing and food bank lineups, it takes bold solutions. An excess profits tax is one way of achieving that and ensuring that the grocery barons are actually reined in.
Let us take the second part of the motion: establishing a national school food program. This is something the NDP has pushed for and is in the budget. I regret to say that the Conservatives offer pretensions in talking about affordability. The member from Carleton cries crocodile tears and says that, even though Conservatives are 50% responsible for the fact that housing prices and food bank lineups have doubled and doubled again, they truly feel that Canadians are facing an affordability crunch. He says that they are having difficulty putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their head.
The NDP pushed for the school food program to ensure that all students in this country have something to eat at school. Students need to have food to learn. What did the Conservatives do? After all the havoc that they have wreaked, being half responsible for the results for Canadians and the affordability crisis today, the member for Carleton voted against the school lunch program.
Back in December, we saw the Conservatives vote to gut everything, from school lunches to affordable housing; transportation safety; food inspection, so we would actually have food that is edible; health care; the RCMP; national defence; and so on. They voted for 120 cuts. Conservatives, with the member for Carleton leading the charge, wanted to axe and cut all services in this country. They wanted to cut back down to nothing, leaving a stump of a federal government. They would have all the money going to billionaires and big corporations, because that is the Conservative way.
Not only did Conservatives want to cut any attempt to deal with the national school food program back in December, but every Conservative member recently voted to gut the school food program. There is no dissent allowed in the Conservative caucus under the member for Carleton. Conservatives have to follow the line, whether that means gutting women's rights to reproductive freedom and abortion or whether it means voting against Ukraine, as we saw in the Ukraine trade deals.
We expect the member for Carleton to understand the importance of school lunches. However, no, the Conservatives voted unanimously to try to end school lunches for students who are hungry. That is unbelievable to me. They could redeem themselves in the next few days when we vote on this motion by actually voting for a national school food program, having voted against it so many times.
The big three chains are Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro. We have seen so many examples of how they have been trying to gouge Canadians. Most recently, we were involved in this. The NDP have been fighting back and pushing out. Many consumers across the country are speaking out as well. Loblaws wanted to increase the prices on expiring food. Members will recall there was a 50% discount when the food is expiring. It is barely edible, but it was subject to a 50% discount. Loblaws, with its massive profits and its massive executive bonuses, decided that they were going to raise the cost of that expiring food. There was a backlash such as we had never seen; finally, Loblaws backed off.
However, the reality is that when Canadians were polled, right across the country, just a few weeks ago, and were asked if inflationary pressure was an excuse to price gouge, 83% of Canadians said that, yes, the grocery giants are using inflation and are using the cover that is provided by the Conservative opposition and its closeness to all the lobbyists. We certainly see that, with the deputy leader and campaign manager all embroiled with lobbyists for the big grocery chains. The Conservatives have not said a single word, ever, about food price gouging by the big grocery giants. They have not said a single word in this House about it. Not a single Conservative has stood up to say that maybe the grocery giants should not be gouging the public.
Canadians were also polled with respect to what is the major impetus behind the rise in food prices. According to Canadians, the major impetus is food price gouging, and Canadians see it. They see that what is happening in the grocery chains is the lobbyists. The corporate Conservatives and the lobbyist Liberals are allowing the grocery giants to gouge Canadians with impunity. The fact that this was identified as the major factor for the rise in food prices should give everyone pause. Certainly, in the next election campaign, whenever that is, Conservative MPs and Liberal MPs will have to defend against why they did not take action to fight back against food price gouging. We know that grocery prices are higher in Canada than elsewhere. We know that the grocery chains and their concentration have led to abuses, and food price gouging is an abuse.
From the NDP's standpoint, we need to do start using the tools that have worked in the past. An excess profits tax would push the CEOs because then they actually have a business decision to make. There are actually consequences for food price gouging. They end up having to pay a price, and that price would be the excess profits tax that would be returned to Canadians in the form of the GST rebate. The member for Burnaby South and the NDP members in the House, including the member for Skeena—Bulkley Valley, have pushed the government to include increased GST rebates and the grocery rebates so that Canadians have more money to put food on the table and to keep a roof over their heads. That is vitally important. The excess profits tax would serve to ensure that there is an enhanced GST rebate for 11 million poor Canadians. At the same time, putting in place the national school lunch program would ensure that all kids in this country, regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of their family situation or regardless of how poor their family is, get food at school so that they can have the food they need to fuel their brains and to learn. That is a win-win-win.
It is a good-sense approach by the NDP. We take a different approach than the Conservatives and the Liberals. We have seen, over the last 20 years, what the Conservatives' approach did. It was terrible and lamentable. The Harper regime was the worst government in our entire history. It was mean-spirited, punching down on Canadians, forcing seniors to work longer, cutting veterans' benefits and services, and destroying affordable housing. It was a terrible, dismal government. The Harper government was just a terrible, horrible, no-good government. Unfortunately, the Liberals seem to have taken too much of their inspiration from the Harper government and have not done the things that need to happen, for example, cutting back on the massive money that is poured into overseas tax havens, into oil and gas CEOs, into the banks and into TMX. We believe, in this corner of the House, that supports should go to regular Canadians, and that is why we are here fighting in the House for Canadians.