Transport committee  There's more reading that can be done in our submission to the CTA, but we did support cabotage and more openness to a foreign carrier being able to fly on Canada-to-Canada routes. I'm not an airline expert, so I want to make sure we're on the same page. Yes, we did explain in that report that we were supportive of that.

Transport committee  There's no specific perspective that we take in terms of fees. Our view is really about how regulation may impact competition. I think there was some commentary in our 2015 submission on the Canada Transportation Act on the fees that go to those regulations. Generally speaking, obviously, as I said earlier, our general perspective is that regulation is used only when necessary to address market failures.

Transport committee  That is not something that we have studied as an issue in and of itself. As I said earlier, we have looked at some of the particular features of air travel in those communities as it relates to competition in specific cases, and there have been some, with regard to travel to Canada's north.

Transport committee  On the last part of the member's question, I don't think that is something we have studied in detail. Our submission to the CTA review in 2015 does look at a few comparators internationally. This can be checked, but New Zealand comes to mind as one where I believe there was more openness to foreign ownership.

Transport committee  Certainly we can investigate alleged conduct that may touch on those issues. This can happen in a variety of ways. It can come from complaints from the marketplace, but the Competition Bureau can also start investigations on its own, if we're aware of things that we may see in the news or the industry press.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, we cannot comment on that, just owing to the confidential nature of our work. It's a specific confidentiality provision that's written into our legislation that we apply.

Transport committee  We did not recommend an independent power to become an adjudicator, so we are still fundamentally an enforcer of the law. We take the law as it's given to us, and ISED is the policy lead in terms of what the Competition Act looks like. We go to the Competition Tribunal as an adjudicator, or other courts if appropriate.

Transport committee  Sure, I can take a crack at it. Essentially, what we are trying to protect against is dominant firms being able to exercise more market power because of specific conduct. This has undergone a recent change from the recent modernization of the Competition Act. In a nutshell, the old framework was a requirement to prove three things: first, market power, in other words, that the firm was big; second, conduct, the practice of an anti-competitive act; and third, the effect on competition.

Transport committee  To speak from the perspective of promoting competition, we tend to approach those kinds of issues in terms of whether they are having any effect on competition. It goes to the earlier point about recognizing that regulation is needed in some circumstances. How can we encourage as much competition as possible within it?

Transport committee  I know there has been work done by agencies similar to ours in other countries. Australia and the U.K. come to mind. I know that Australia is often thought of as something worthwhile to compare ourselves to because of distances between major centres and because of our landmass.

Transport committee  It's certainly something we are mindful of. We've taken note of the particular features of markets, especially in northern Canada, because it's been a part of our past reviews. Particular features there include things like weather or particular equipment that may be needed to serve those areas.

Transport committee  As a starting point, it's certainly where we hope the market can deliver its benefits. We trust that the market is going to bring all of those things that the member mentioned, namely, low prices and service. However, we recognize there are times when markets can fail. We're not an organization that is against regulation.

Transport committee  Unfortunately, because of where we are in the process at the moment, until we complete this phase of consulting with the minister, I can't comment on whether that's something we would specifically be looking at.

Transport committee  Okay. Perhaps what I can say is that one encouraging thing is the modernization of the current Competition Act. This is something the Competition Bureau has been quite public about in terms of asking for a change, and there has been very meaningful change over the last two to three years, a series of modernizations, including our abuse of dominance framework.

Transport committee  To clarify, the earlier study I mentioned was more of a submission that we did to the legislative review of the Canada Transportation Act. What we are envisioning, in terms of a new market study, would aim to be a little more in-depth and also specific to the airline sector. The Canada Transportation Act review covered rail, airlines and marine as well, so it's a little broader and different from a market study.