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Earlier this fall, the federal Liberal government tabled Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, with the aim of jump starting construction of purpose built rental homes with a GST rebate on these kinds of projects, and increasing competition in the grocery industry by strengthening the federal Competition Bureau, upgrading its ability to investigate companies and closing loopholes in the merger approval process that may contribute to rising prices and profits.
The federal NDP doesn’t think this bill has gone far enough and have requested a number of amendments to the first draft to include more non-market housing and removing political influence on the Competition Bureau, among a list of other measures, in order to pass the House.
What will this amended piece of legislation do for ordinary, working-class Canadians to make groceries affordable again, and does it go far enough? How has market concentration contributed to higher grocery receipts? Why should incentives for building more co-op housing be included in the final version of the bill?
Social democratic commentator and columnist Tom Parkin spoke to Daniel Blaikie, Member of Parliament for Elmwood—Transcona and NDP finance critic, about Bill C-56, grocery competition, and building non-market housing.
Show Note Links
- Bill C-56, Affordable Housing and Groceries Act (Government House Bill)
- Bill C-352, Lowering Prices for Canadians Act (Private Member’s Bill introduced by MP Jagmeet Singh)
- Beyond Simply Building More: Policy Options for Combatting the Financialization of Housing in Ontario, (March 2023) – Broadbent Institute analysis on the contributing factors behind the housing affordability crisis, by Tsahai Carter.
- Canadian Grocery Profitability: Inflation, Wages and Financialization, (September 2023) – Broadbent Institute analysis of the Canadian grocery retail industry in the context of the “seller’s inflation” economic phenomena, by Alex Purdye.
- ‘Growing Grocery Profits, Shrinking Pay Cheques‘, Opinion by Clement Nocos in Perspectives Journal from October 12, 2023.
