Committees of the House  Madam Speaker, I do enjoy working with my fellow colleague on the agriculture committee. He will be familiar, from the multiple times that we have heard from grocery executives, that they are often talking about how they work in a low-margin industry. I think they present a slightly misleading argument.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, my colleague will be aware that, earlier this week, Dr. Jim Stanford was one of our witnesses. He provided our committee with a brief that derives its information from publicly available data. On page five of that brief he noted that, from the beginning of 2021 to the spring of 2022, “the world price of oil tripled” from $40 a barrel to $120 a barrel and that, in that period, “the jump in the price of oil [which was] driven by a combination of geopolitics and speculation...increased fossil fuel prices by 30 times as much as the $10 carbon price increase in the same period.”

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I always appreciate the chance to speak about agriculture in the House. I am a bit disappointed because I was hoping to speak to Bill C-58 today. My hon. colleague will know, given that he serves on the committee with me, that we are revisiting this issue. We recently had four of the five grocery CEOs appear before our committee.

Canadian Aviation Regulations  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be rising today to give my thoughts on Motion No. 96, which was introduced by a fellow British Columbian, the member for Fleetwood—Port Kells. I would like to thank him, because it is not every day that the House of Commons gets to take a deep dive into the Canadian aviation regulations.

Affordable Housing and Groceries Act  Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my hon. colleague from Elmwood—Transcona for his speech and also for his interventions with other members of this House. We have been studying this issue in depth at the agriculture committee and I have had the chance to question multiple CEOs; notably Galen Weston of Loblaw.

Affordable Housing and Groceries Act  Madam Speaker, very much related to Bill C-56 is the degree to which corporations are making record profits these days while everyone else seems to be suffering. We recently had Galen Weston, chairman of Loblaw, appear before the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Grocery Industry  Mr. Speaker, food prices are not going down. A record number of Canadians are turning to food banks for their meals. Before the doors open at Bridges to Hope Food Bank in St. John's, there is already a line-up waiting to collect food hampers. Meanwhile, big grocers like Sobeys, which was here yesterday, are seeing heaps of excess profit, all while offering a nickel to their employees.

Questions Passed as Orders for Returns  En ce qui concerne la crise du prix des aliments: a) à quelle date la politique nationale en matière d’alimentation dans les écoles que propose le gouvernement sera-t-elle mise en œuvre; b) quels programmes le gouvernement mettra-t-il sur pied pour donner suite à l’engagement qu’il a pris de consacrer 1 milliard de dollars sur cinq ans à ce dossier; c) que compte faire le gouvernement pour que le Guide alimentaire canadien serve de principe directeur à la stratégie en matière de saine alimentation; d) quelles communications, via des rencontres en personne, des rencontres virtuelles, des courriels ou des lettres, a-t-on reçues des gouvernements provinciaux confirmant leur intérêt à collaborer avec le gouvernement fédéral dans le but d’instaurer une politique nationale en matière d’alimentation dans les écoles, ventilées par (i) province, (ii) année?

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry’s comments on October 5, 2023, that “Starting soon, Canadians will be able to see rollouts of actions such as discounts across a basket of food products, price freezes and price matching campaigns to name a few”: (a) by what date can Canadians expect to see the rollouts mentioned; (b) what are the details of all actions referenced by the minister, broken down by (i) food products, (ii) price freezes, (iii) price matching campaigns; and (c) how does the minister distinguish between previous business practices and new actions as a result of the government’s consultations?

Questions on the Order Paper  With regard to the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry’s statement on October 5, 2023, that “I can tell you I’ve been looking at some flyers this morning, and you already see action in terms of different grocers adjusting ahead obviously of Thanksgiving”: (a) to which flyers was the minister referring; and (b) what were the actions in the flyers in (a) which are directly related to government consultation with grocery retailers, broken down by (i) discounts on food products, (ii) price freezes, (iii) price matching campaigns?

Government Business No. 31—Proceedings on Bill C-50  Mr. Speaker, I have been looking at some of the financial information from the oil and gas sector. There is very clear evidence that it has now shifted to a capital discipline, flat growth and high shareholder return strategy. In fact, most of the obscene profits right now are going into stock buybacks and dividend payouts, often to foreign investors.

Grocery Industry  Mr. Speaker, the holidays are coming up, and parents are stressed about covering presents for the kids and managing the costs of a turkey dinner. Meanwhile, Canada's biggest grocery chains are making bucketloads of excess profit. While families struggle this holiday season, the Liberals are offering families a lump of coal with no solutions and just words, but the NDP is getting results.

Criminal Code  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to give some of my thoughts on Bill C-295, which was introduced by the member for Vancouver Centre. It is an act that would amend the Criminal Code on the subject of neglect of vulnerable adults. I am very pleased to be speaking to this subject, especially on behalf of all vulnerable seniors in my riding, but also their families.

Grocery Industry  Madam Speaker, this coming Monday, the CEO of Sobeys will be back to testify about food prices. For two years, the Liberals have been beating around the bush both on bringing food prices down and on standing up to grocery CEOs. Anyone can tell us that the minister's little meeting, where he asked the rich CEOs nicely to stop gouging Canadian grocery shoppers, had no impact.

Small Business  Madam Speaker, CEBA loans saved hundreds of thousands of businesses and millions of jobs across Canada during the pandemic, but recovery has been slow. I received messages from two businesses in my riding: the Ginger Room hair salon, managed by Nicole Doyle, with eight employees; and the Fish Bowl Cafe, managed by Jessica Fetchko, with nine employees.