Senator Gignac: Thank you and welcome, Deputy Prime Minister and minister. First of all, we want to thank you for everything you’re doing to combat inflation and make housing more affordable, since it’s the poorest people who suffer most.

I’ll start with the Deputy Prime Minister. I’d appreciate it if you could be concise in your answer, since I’d like to ask Minister Champagne a question as well.

Not everyone in Quebec is on board with this federal government measure. Minister Girard has been reluctant to harmonize Quebec’s policies with the federal measures, claiming that one third of the benefits would go to developers, one third would go to landlords and one third might go to renters.

Are there any studies or briefs you could share with us to reassure us that renters will benefit from this measure?

Ms. Freeland: Thank you for that question. I have discussed this measure with Minister Girard. I think it’s up to the provinces and territories to decide whether they want to follow the federal government’s lead and eliminate the GST on rental housing construction.

I believe that Professor Mike Moffatt is one of Canada’s top experts on this subject. He has published studies confirming that this is an important measure. One really significant point to note is that current construction financing creates an incentive to build condominiums in cities where rental apartments are what is needed most. That is a big problem because Toronto, for example, does not need more condos. It needs rental apartments. That is one of the reasons this current measure is so important.

Senator Gignac: Thank you, minister. Professor Moffatt’s credibility is beyond dispute.

Welcome, minister. You’ve held discussions with grocery store CEOs and you’ve made an effort. We are more or less dealing with an oligopoly. I’m trying to understand. Are there restrictive covenants in place? If so, how will this bill change things? Do any anti-competitive policies apply when a grocery store wants to open in a certain location but can’t? Can you talk to us about that and tell us how the bill will change anything? You have about 45 seconds.

Mr. Champagne: Thank you, Senator Gignac. As I was saying to your colleague earlier, I met with a representative of a large U.S. chain who told me that one of the reasons they didn’t enter Canada in recent years was that they couldn’t lease commercial premises in the areas they were interested in, because there were too many restrictive covenants between landlords and tenants.

In the regions, for example, a mall may have a store from one of the three major grocery chains that control over 50% of the market, and there will be restrictive covenants in the leases for something like five kilometres around. There can be no competitors in that radius. I believe this particular provision will be a game-changer because we’ll be able to attract other players in the future. Independent grocers are really excited about this measure, because they can’t get a spot in the same malls as the big chain stores, and this is an issue that is reducing competition in this country.