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Agriculture committee No. They are BetterCart Analytics, NielsenIQ, Angus Reid Institute and Caddle Inc.
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee It is very difficult to establish. Each product that has a reference number has its own history and proportions. It is therefore very difficult to say what is going on in general or to give an average. I can tell you that in general, the profit margins for retail sales are extre
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee It would. There are lots of reporting practices at StatsCan that really are, I think, questionable. For example, if you just look right now at the data that came out for October, you will see that we still don't have the basket of goods for the month of October. We don't know if
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee Well, for the front-of-package labelling policy, it's too early to tell. We still don't have anything right now at the grocery store influencing behaviour. As far as the carbon tax goes, it's actually mentioned in today's report that we're releasing along with the University of
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee I wish I knew the answer. I think that's the coefficient we need to get to, at least for the government to better understand exactly what the impact is going to be. We've seen some polices in recent years that are, honestly, unfairly penalizing farmers. Farmers are price-takers
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee That would be fair to say. It is an important hypothesis to recognize.
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee Yes, it did, actually. As a lab, it's been extremely difficult and, frankly, frustrating to utilize StatsCan's data. Over the last several months, it's been very difficult to know exactly whether or not the food inflation data is actually accurate. We have partners at the lab a
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Agriculture committee Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members. I would like to thank you for inviting me again for this important discussion on food affordability. As food prices rise, many are quick to blame grocers for profiteering and taking advantage of consumers. The notion of profiteering ha
December 5th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee The first thing is that we need to stop flying in the dark. We need data. Right now, a lot of people are saying all sorts of things without really any data. I had the pleasure of working in Europe and in the U.S., where getting data is much easier than it is in Canada. In Canad
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee The war in Ukraine is still impacting our markets, although less so than when we last met. Soaring prices peaked on May 17, and prices have been dropping since but are expected to climb again. The situation in Europe and Asia will cause shortages. To answer your first question,
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee Things are improving. On the container front, marine transport costs are down 40% to 50% from the spring, so marine supply chains are more efficient. Land-based supply chains are less costly and more efficient because of more predictable market conditions, which are the result of
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee Every sector of the economy is affected in the same way, including agriculture. Agriculture needs investment, and that's a risk that has to be taken, unfortunately. There's no doubt that interest rates are going to affect how farmers assess and manage risk. I think that's a good
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee A stronger processing sector is absolutely necessary. We don't do a lot of processing. We export a huge amount of raw materials, and that makes us more vulnerable. We need a food self-sufficiency policy, like the one Quebec has. Quebec puts a lot more energy into processing. The
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee It's a fair question. You see, both B.C. and Quebec have had a carbon tax for a very long time, and we've never seen any anomalies when it comes to food prices in both provinces in over a decade. That's why, whenever someone tells me that the carbon tax is a problem for food affo
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Finance committee I am supportive of measures to mitigate climate change, for sure. I think the carbon tax is an important policy. At the same time, we need to evaluate exactly how Canadians are impacted at the grocery store.
September 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois