Peter Braid

[The Budget, February 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, the preamble of that member's question is in fact incorrect. It is this Conservative government that has made unprecedented investments in infrastructure, investments that have nearly tripled since 2006. In economic action plan 2013, we announced the longest and the largest infrastructure fund in Canadian history over 10 years.

In November, we provided the gas tax agreements to provinces. We are ready to sign those now. The details on the rest of the plan will be announced soon.

[Petitions, February 6th, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I have a petition signed by many of my constituents in my riding of Kitchener—Waterloo.

The petition relates to the issue of the importance of responsible mining overseas.

[Science and Technology Awards, February 3rd, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize 36 pre-eminent Canadian scientists, engineers, and industrial partners from across Canada who are in Ottawa today. Tonight they will be awarded top honours for their achievements.

They have been selected by their peers to receive prestigious prizes from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council for keeping Canada at the forefront of discovery and innovation.

The highest honour, the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, Canada's version of the Nobel Prize, is awarded to Dr. W. Ford Doolittle of Dalhousie University, who is one of the world's top molecular geneticists. Dr. Doolittle will receive $1 million in research funding over the next five years.

I invite all members to join me in congratulating these award recipients.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is clear that Groundhog Day must be coming, because the NDP uses two or three different members to ask the same question.

In any event, I will give the answer, which is this: CBSA resources, specifically border guards, have increased by 26% under our government. The CBSA has clearly indicated that it has the resources to apply these new powers within the current envelope. This is long overdue, and we look forward to getting it done on behalf of Canadian businesses and consumers.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague's question. I did enjoy the opportunity to work with him while at the industry committee.

My colleague mentioned the study on intellectual property. It was actually my motion that triggered that important and very comprehensive study of intellectual property at the industry committee, where we had the opportunity to hear from many Canadians and Canadian businesses and manufacturers about the importance of updating our copyright and combatting counterfeiting legislation in this country.

CBSA has indicated that it very much wants to have these additional powers and will have the resources to do so. We look forward to increased opportunities and the ability to deal with this important issue and to track this information.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, in fact CBSA and our border agents want the provisions contained in this particular bill.

In many cases, they actually see and witness counterfeit products crossing the border, but they are powerless to do anything. CBSA has underscored to us very clearly that they want these provisions and that they have the resources to apply these important new authorities and powers, and once they are provided, Canadians will be safer and our borders will be more secure.

[Combating Counterfeit Products Act, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a privilege for me to rise today and speak in support of Bill C-8, the combatting counterfeit products bill. I will begin by indicating that I will be splitting my time with the member for Durham.

Counterfeit products are a threat to all Canadians. They undermine the success of Canadian businesses by stealing the good reputation of a business in order to sell knock-off goods. The inferior nature of these knock-off goods then serves to tarnish the reputation of quality that the real Canadian business has worked so hard to establish.

However, counterfeit products are not simply a threat to Canadian businesses. Counterfeit automobile parts, counterfeit circuit breakers, counterfeit drugs, and many more dangerous counterfeit products also pose a threat to the health and safety of Canadians. The government has reintroduced the combatting counterfeit products act because we are committed to ensuring that the hard-earned reputations of Canadian businesses are maintained and that all Canadians are protected from the dangers posed by counterfeit products.

I would like to take this opportunity to focus on one of the key elements of Bill C-8. New provisions introduced in this bill would provide businesses and rights holders with better tools to stop those who form a part of the supply chain for counterfeit goods and to obtain compensation from them . These supply chains are essential to the spread of counterfeit products and are directly responsible for counterfeit products entering the Canadian marketplace.

Under the current Trade-marks Act, it is prohibited to sell, offer to sell, distribute, or advertise counterfeit products or services. What this means is that any person found to be selling, distributing, or advertising counterfeit products can be sued by the rightful owner of the trademark that the counterfeit products are attempting to imitate. For example, if someone is selling counterfeit jackets out of the back of a van, the legitimate company, under the current law, is able to sue that individual, both to stop him or her from selling and as a means of getting compensation for the damage done by the counterfeiter. Similarly, that company would also be able to sue an individual who is advertising counterfeit jackets or an individual who is found to be distributing counterfeit jackets to others for the purpose of sale.

However, the problem with this current system is that it does nothing to target those individuals who are part of the supply chain that enables the sale of counterfeit products. Under the current law, the rightful trademark owner has no means of stopping those who produce, import, export, or store counterfeit products prior to a distributor or seller actually selling the counterfeit goods. To illustrate the problem, allow me to give some examples.

Let us imagine that a manufacturer of car parts finds a production line for counterfeit car parts operating somewhere in Canada. Under the current Trade-marks Act, despite knowing that car parts with another person's trademark on them are being produced, the owner of the trademark would be unable to ask a court to stop the production line. Until those individuals producing fake car parts attempted to make a sale or began to advertise their counterfeit products, the owner of the trademark would have no legal recourse to stop them or obtain compensation for damages.

In another case, let us imagine that a brand-name hockey manufacturer finds a series of storage units full of hockey jerseys bearing a counterfeit trademark. Under the current Trade-marks Act, the legitimate manufacturer would have no grounds to seize the counterfeit jerseys, even if the manufacturer was certain that they were indeed counterfeit. Until the legitimate manufacturer could produce evidence of the sale, attempted sale, or advertising of these counterfeit jerseys, he or she would not be able to seize the jerseys. Imagine if this was one's favourite hockey team.

Again, imagine that a legitimate electronics company has grounds to believe that an importer is bringing thousands of fake smart phones into the Canadian market. As members can appreciate, this would be a concern for me as the member of Parliament for Waterloo, for obvious reasons.

Under the current law, they would be unable to go to court to get an order preventing that importer from bringing those counterfeit smart phones into Canada. Unfortunately, once the counterfeit phones arrive in Canada, it is much more difficult to ensure that they are not released into the Canadian market, where unsuspecting Canadian consumers may be tricked into purchasing them.

Clearly, there are gaps in our current laws that need to be filled in order to better combat counterfeiting. Our legislation needs to be updated to ensure rights holders can protect their rights and that Canadian consumers can have confidence that they are purchasing the goods they intend to.

Part of what the combatting counterfeit products bill proposes to do is to fix these loopholes in the law. It would do so by adding new civil provisions to the Trade-marks Act that would tackle all parts of the counterfeit supply chain, not just point of sale.

Specifically, the Trade-marks Act would be amended so that along with selling, distributing, or advertising, individuals who are found to be manufacturing, causing to be manufactured, possessing, importing, exporting, or attempting to export counterfeit products could also be stopped and sued for damages by rights holders. These are overdue provisions.

Under the proposed changes contained in the combatting counterfeit products bill, a legitimate car parts manufacturer would be able to stop the manufacturers of counterfeit car parts under the new manufacturing provision. A legitimate hockey equipment company would be able to seize the storage units full of fake hockey jerseys under the new possessing provision. Under the new importing provision, a legitimate electronics company would be able to prevent an importer from bringing counterfeit smart phones into Canada.

These new provisions will serve to better protect the interests of rights holders by giving them the ability to ask a court to halt the actions of members of the supply chain for counterfeit products. The new provisions will also create a much-needed deterrent to those counterfeiters who, up until this point, had been able to participate in the supply networks critical to counterfeit operations with little risk that they could be targeted by the law.

To sum up, we need the expanded civil provisions contained in the combatting counterfeit products bill to effectively combat counterfeit products that pose serious risks to Canadian businesses and to Canadian consumers. I urge my fellow members of this House to swiftly pass the combatting counterfeit products bill.

[Olympic Winter Games, January 31st, 2014]

Mr. Speaker, one week from today the world will be watching as Canada's best compete at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.

Kitchener—Waterloo will be well represented with five of our own going for gold. Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club members Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch will be competing in the pairs figure skating event, while Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje will represent Canada in ice dancing and Kitchener native Jenna Blasman will be competing in the first-ever Olympic slopestyle event as a member of Canada's snowboard team.

I encourage all members and all Canadians to join me in cheering on our Olympic athletes as they make us proud in Sochi. Go, Canada, go.

[Nelson Mandela, December 6th, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the world learned that it had lost one of its most influential, respected and loved leaders. Nelson Mandela ended apartheid and in doing so chose the way of reconciliation and understanding.

Canada is proud to have hosted Nelson Mandela three times through the years. He addressed our Parliament and became the first living person to receive honorary Canadian citizenship in recognition of his moral leadership. We were honoured to present him with a number of accolades, including two Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medals.

Canadians join the people of South Africa, and indeed the world, in mourning and celebrating Nelson Mandela's life. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and all citizens of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela was a great testament to his country and to humanity. It is up to all of us to ensure his great legacy lives on. May he rest in peace.

[Science and Technology, December 3rd, 2013]

Mr. Speaker, as I explained, our government is taking action to ensure that Canada has the necessary conditions in place to foster innovation and secure the prosperity of Canadians. We understand that federally funded research undertaken at post-secondary institutions is accompanied by associated indirect costs, as I explained. This is why we help ease the financial burden through the indirect costs program.

As I mentioned, we are conducting a review to ensure that the program is reinforcing excellence in research and is responding to the needs of our important research community. Views from across the post-secondary education sector and from our provincial colleagues are instrumental in this review.

Our government's investments have helped position Canada as a leader among G7 nations in R and D performed by universities and colleges. We made these investments because we recognize that our researchers need the right tools and the proper environment in which to conduct their work. That is why our federal science and technology expenditures, $9 billion since 2006, support a suite of investments in research, people, and infrastructure.

Finally, our government remains committed to maintaining a strong foundation in research excellence. I would ask my counterparts across the aisle to recognize and support this continued commitment.