The NDP promoted Galen Weston’s appearance at a House of Commons committee this week as if it was a heavyweight title fight — as if NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and the executive chairman of Loblaws were about to settle their differences like Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.
Any objective ringside judge would have to score Wednesday’s match a draw. Which is not to say that hauling Weston before a parliamentary committee was a waste of time.
Parliament’s primary responsibilities are (in no particular order) debating and passing legislation, scrutinizing government spending and holding the prime minister and cabinet to account.
Calling in the head of a large grocery chain to chew him out doesn’t obviously fit into any of those assignments. But Parliament also has the ability and the power to convene and focus public attention on important issues and concerns. And it’s hard to argue that a famous or prominent non-politician appearing before a committee doesn’t generate a higher level of public and media interest than the average parliamentary hearing.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh grills grocery CEO
‘How much profit is too much?:’ Singh grills Loblaws CEO
During a committee hearing, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh questioned Loblaws chairman and CEO Galen Weston about the high profits his stores are making while many Canadians are unable to afford groceries.
This sort of spectacle is perhaps more commonly associated with the United States Congress — think, for instance, of Major League Baseball players publicly testifying about steroid use in 2005. But it also seems to be an increasingly popular tactic for Canadian parliamentarians, who have also called on Facebook executives and airline executives in recent years.
When MPs manage to (mostly) stop trying to undermine each other and focus instead on a common target, they can be quite effective interrogators. Consider the incredible pressure that members of the heritage committee were able to bring to bear on Hockey Canada last fall when MPs chose to study that organization’s handling of sexual assault allegations. This week, the same committee gave Canada’s national women’s soccer team an official forum to explain their concerns about the management of Canada Soccer.
There are certainly worse ways for Parliament to spend its time. And such hearings also have the benefit of making Parliament more prominent and relevant to Canadians.
Parliament still needs to get results
But there’s also a risk involved in putting too much emphasis on confrontations like Wednesday’s showdown between Singh and Weston — at least if the public back-and-forth doesn’t lead to something substantive.
While Singh showed up to Wednesday’s meeting of the agriculture committee with a stack of what he said was 2,000 questions for Weston that had been submitted to the NDP, he wasn’t quite able to corner the grocery executive or thoroughly unravel Weston’s claims that Loblaws is doing nothing untoward in its pricing of food.
“How much profit is too much profit?” Singh asked Weston. “You’re making more money than you’ve ever made. How much profit is too much profit?”
“We’re a big company and the numbers are very large but it still translates right down to the bottom line at one dollar [of profit] per 25 dollars of groceries,” Weston responded.
Maybe there was something cathartic about Singh confronting Weston publicly and directly — at least for viewers frustrated by inflation and convinced that Weston is somehow to blame. Singh may have gained some new fans this week.
The CEOs of Canada’s biggest grocery chains faced pointed questions on Parliament Hill about soaring profits and food inflation, but all denied that corporate earnings were behind rising food prices.
It’s also possible that the public attention will put additional pressure on major grocers to keep prices as low as possible.
But whether those companies are unnecessarily increasing prices is a point of debate. And Wednesday’s hearing didn’t settle it.
A study by the Competition Bureau might get closer to a definitive answer. Parliament might at some point decide that further action is necessary to control food prices.
But unless these closely watched hearings lead to substantive change at least occasionally, Canadians might wonder whether MPs are only interested in putting on a show.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
