Liberals vote against Jagmeet Singh’s bill to Lower Prices for Canadians

OTTAWA — On Wednesday, Canada’s NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh’s bill to lower prices for Canadians successfully passed despite the out-of-touch Liberals voting against it. Justin Trudeau is showing once again that he stands for wealthy CEOs instead of everyday Canadians.

For months, Singh has been pushing the Liberal government to tackle the high grocery prices hurting Canadian families by addressing the corporate greed driving up costs.

“Canadians have been getting gouged at the grocery checkout for months. Families are forced to cut back on good, nutritious food, and food bank usage is at a record high. There are grocery workers who can’t afford the food they sell to others all the while grocery CEOs are making record profits. It doesn’t have to be this way,” said Singh. “My bill will help make things fairer for Canadian consumers – it’s pretty shocking the Liberals are voting against harsher penalties for big grocery stores and clearer rules to stop mergers that hurt Canadians.”

Last fall, New Democrats forced Liberals to implement part of Jagmeet’s Lowering prices for Canadians bill, but more needs to be done to protect Canadian consumers. Singh’s bill brings in higher penalties for price-fixing and wage-fixing – which could have led to higher penalties in the case of the bread price-fixing scandal. This would disincentivize corporations to abuse consumers. It also sets clear rules to stop mergers that only drive-up prices and hurt consumers — like the Rogers-Shaw merger. Today, Liberals voted against those reasonable measures.

“Canadians don’t need more studies on grocery prices or an out-of-touch minister who tells them to check the flyers for deals; they need real actions to lower prices. This legislation is a first step to stop Canadian families from getting gouged and out-of-touch Trudeau voted against it,” said Singh. “Canadians don’t need a Prime Minister that works for Galen Weston and the Sobey family, they need someone that has the courage to stand up for them and make their life more affordable.”