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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 323

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
June 3, 2024 11:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 323 - Jun/3/24
Mr. Mark Gerretsen
  • Jun/3/24 8:54:21 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I do want to go back to the serious part of this. I did hear the member talking about the excess profit tax after World War II. I do not necessarily disagree with it, but I did not understand correctly whether that was in an industry that had monopoly-type practices like the one we are talking about right now, the grocery sector. Implementing a tax like that on a sector that does not have any kind of monopolistic practices associated with it and is operating in a more free market would not necessarily produce the same results. That, I guess, would be my concern. I do think that we would have to be careful. It is easy to say that if they increase the prices, we will just increase the tax more, but where does that end? It could turn into a revolving cycle of just continually seeing prices going up, taxes going up and prices going up again. At the end of the day, there needs to be enough competition. I do not even hold it against the individual CEOs. They are doing what our capitalist market is intending them to do. When government needs to step in is when there is not free supply and demand, depending on how the prices are being met. That is when the government needs to be there, and I think that is a very important consideration.
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