Agriculture committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. Thanks for being with us once again. It's much appreciated. I know that you don't study the grocery code specifically, but you do mention in your report that it would be of benefit by providing more accountability. When Mr. Weston from Loblaws appeared at this committee, he said that the grocery code of conduct will cost Loblaws a billion dollars.

Agriculture committee  The Minister of Innovation made the comment that he's looking at trying to attract international companies to come to Canada to add to that competition. It was interesting. In the same news article, I saw that when Target came to Canada it had a massive footprint, invested $8 billion and lasted less than three years, even though it had all the Zellers locations.

Agriculture committee  I get it. Today at a media conference regarding food prices, the innovation minister said that we are taking some lessons from the European Union. That comment concerns me. I just want to direct you to a column you wrote called “Farming's breaking point”. You commented about what's going on in Europe, with the demonstrations from farmers in France, Germany and other countries.

Agriculture committee  Thanks for that. I wanted to shift to Mr. Currie. You mentioned that number. Some of your members are saying how important Bill C-234 is, that 40% of their energy bills are from carbon taxes. We've certainly had bills from across Canada showing that, in some cases, the carbon tax is actually more than the natural gas they're paying for.

Agriculture committee  Thanks, Mr. Chair. Dr. Charlebois, I just want you to clarify one of your comments. On Bill C-234, you said that farmers weren't happy about that, but I think you meant the amendments that were added to Bill C-234. Do you mind just clarifying that really quickly for the committee?

Agriculture committee  Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that was clear on the record.

Agriculture committee  I just saw Mr. Currie's eyes get all red.

Agriculture committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. La Flèche, for being here with us today. My colleague asked this question earlier on, but I just want to dive a little deeper into it. You said in the Quebec media that when you met with the Prime Minister or the Minister of Industry the grocery CEOs provided the government with a list of recommendations on steps that the Liberal government could take to try to help reduce food costs and be a partner in this effort.

Agriculture committee  Sir, from your comments in the media, you were saying that the government had not followed through on taking steps.... I'll try to find the direct quote, but I did see that.

Agriculture committee  Okay. Has Metro done an analysis or anything specific regarding the cost of the carbon tax on your brand, the Metro brand, in increasing energy bills, transportation, heating and cooling costs, all of those types of things? Have you done an assessment on what the cost of that is to Metro?

Agriculture committee  Why would you think Metro isn't paying carbon tax? You have stores in Ontario, which would be paying carbon tax on energy. When you're getting deliveries on products—

Agriculture committee  I'd encourage you, Mr. La Flèche, as CEO of Metro, to take a look at those bills. They will have an element specifically telling you what your carbon tax is on every single delivery and on your heating bills in your stores. I think it would be important for Metro to understand the costs you are being burdened with.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. What would be the impact, as my colleague had asked you earlier, of the plastics ban? This isn't a matter of increased costs. One other consequence of this from what we understand is that a number of items would no longer be available. United States' produce companies, for example, would refuse to meet these new regulations and would just no longer export to Canada.

Agriculture committee  When the Prime Minister initiated this and brought in the CEOs—which this committee in fact did six months earlier, so this was not anything abnormal—he said: If their plan doesn’t provide real relief for the middle class and people working hard to join it —so I would say this isn't just about freezing prices, but price reduction, ensuring there's relief in that respect— then we will take further action, and we are not ruling anything out including tax measures.

Agriculture committee  Mr. Sands, do you have a comment?