The Green Party of Ontario wants a tax on excess profits of the major supermarket chains.
Party Leader Mike Schreiner made the proposal while campaigning for his deputy leader, Aislin Clancy, who is in a tight race with the NDP candidate in the bye election in Kitchener Centre.
Schreiner said in introducing a bill in the legislature Monday that “the affordability crisis is hitting Ontarians hard. Every day, families are foregoing basic needs because the cost of living is just too high.
“And while everyone else is struggling to make ends meet, Canada’s grocery giants are raking in record profits.”
He calls it the Weston tax, a reference to Galen Weston and his relatives who hold enough shares to control Loblaws, Canada’s largest supermarket chain and the one with the biggest profits.
Schreiner said “it’s time to get back to putting people first – and the Weston Tax does just that.”
.“No one should have to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table,” said Clancy. “Yet more and more people are forced into those kinds of choices every day. It’s time to put an end to price gouging and put money back into people’s pockets.
“This is exactly the kind of tool we need to deliver real affordability solutions to NDP.
The bye election is to replace Laura Mae Lindo who won the riding for the NDP,
She resigned saying she could not afford the costs involved, including child care and commuting to Toronto. She took a position with the University of Waterloo where she was employed before running for election.
The Green Party represents the riding with federal Member of Parliament Mike Maurice. He has also called for an excess profits tax on supermarket chains, noting that there is one on banks.
