Agriculture committee  It would, of course, be problematic if each of the provinces in which we do business required us to follow different rules. We would prefer an industry-led code subscribed to by all the industry players. As I said earlier, I hope we'll be able to address the issues raised by tho

Agriculture committee  I hope so. I think we're nearly there. People are going to have to redouble their efforts to get it done. I believe it would be a good thing for the industry, and that it would enable us to move on to other things.

Agriculture committee  Thank you. Yes, we're all in favour of a code. However, as I've already said, I definitely deny any contention that our industry isn't competitive. On the contrary, our industry is extremely competitive.

Agriculture committee  I'm sorry to repeat myself, but we are maintaining our commitment to give our customers the lowest possible prices for their money. We have always done that and are doing it even more so during this inflationary period. We do our absolute best to give our customers the best possi

Agriculture committee  The penalties we might levy or fees that we might charge our suppliers when they don't deliver an order or deliver it late are known. They are specified in the contract clauses. If suppliers are experiencing problems, we sit down with them and try to find a solution. Sometimes we

Agriculture committee  We don't disclose our agreements, but I'll note your request and ask my colleagues to follow up.

Agriculture committee  Yes. As I mentioned, all taxes that increase costs, whether on carbon, plastic or anything else, will ultimately increase retail prices. It may take a while, but it certainly has an inflationary impact. As for the dollar impact of the carbon tax on Metro, we'll try to give you a

Agriculture committee  I can't speak for the others, but at Metro, we require our suppliers not to introduce any price increases during a specified period. We will not accept any price increases from our suppliers between November 1 and February 1, more or less. It's a long-standing practice at Metro.

Agriculture committee  I have a lot of empathy for these people. We do in fact work closely with food banks, in both Quebec and Ontario. Metro has been a major food bank partner for a very long time. Demand has been stronger for the past two years, which we find highly regrettable, and this has led us

Agriculture committee  I'll start by saying that this gap is shrinking. Food inflation is now much closer to the overall inflation rate. There was certainly a gap. But then inflation is a world-wide phenomenon. It's attributable to global factors like the war in Ukraine, the price of wheat, the price

Agriculture committee  I can't tell you how many millions or hundreds of millions of dollars it would cost Metro. However, during some consultations, we expressed our concerns through our association, the Retail Council of Canada. If the plastic ban you're talking about is going to increase our costs

Agriculture committee  We don't grow the lettuce; we are a distributor and a retailer. We will source products at the most effective cost possible. We're always looking for alternative sources of products, because there can be issues. There can be crop issues in certain parts of the world, so we have t

Agriculture committee  To my knowledge, two food retailers are on the working committee: a representative from Metro and a representative from Sobeys.

Agriculture committee  No, but it's a working committee that is trying to find an acceptable solution for everyone. Basically, it represents the retailers.

Agriculture committee  Allow me to repeat: the code was not developed to deal with price matters. It's more a matter of negotiations between a supplier and a retailer. We told the minister, Mr. Champagne, that we were making a commitment to adhere to the code because he asked us to do so. The minister