Bill C-56 (Historical)

Combating Counterfeit Products Act

An Act to amend the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts

This enactment amends the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act to add new civil and criminal remedies and new border measures in both Acts, in order to strengthen the enforcement of copyright and trade-mark rights and to curtail commercial activity involving infringing copies and counterfeit trade-marked goods. More specifically, the enactment
(a) creates new civil causes of action with respect to activities that sustain commercial activity in infringing copies and counterfeit trade-marked goods;
(b) creates new criminal offences for trade-mark counterfeiting that are analogous to existing offences in the Copyright Act;
(c) creates new criminal offences prohibiting the possession or export of infringing copies or counterfeit trade-marked goods, packaging or labels;
(d) enacts new border enforcement measures enabling customs officers to detain goods that they suspect infringe copyright or trade-mark rights and allowing them to share information relating to the detained goods with rights owners who have filed a request for assistance, in order to give the rights owners a reasonable opportunity to pursue a remedy in court;
(e) exempts the importation and exportation of copies and goods by an individual for their personal use from the application of the border measures; and
(f) adds the offences set out in the Copyright Act and the Trade-marks Act to the list of offences set out in the Criminal Code for the investigation of which police may seek judicial authorization to use a wiretap.
The enactment also amends the Trade-marks Act to, among other things, expand the scope of what can be registered as a trade-mark, allow the Registrar of Trade-marks to correct errors that appear in the trade-mark register, and streamline and modernize the trade-mark application and opposition process.

Bill C-56—Time Allocation Motion

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Speaker, since we are all aware that time in the House is precious, I will not spend too much time on a preamble. I have two quick questions for the minister.

First, what does he think of the member for Winnipeg North who is always complaining about not having enough time to debate, and yet he takes up so much time that 55 other MPs could have spoken?

Second, what the government is talking about today, is it a surprise or is this something that we have already debated in the past?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Ottawa—Orléans for his very good question.

As far as the member for Winnipeg North is concerned, he is grandstanding, saying that basic principles are being undermined, when this bill is very important and has been thoroughly debated.

Hon. members know what Canadians think about this. I hope no one will have the audacity to say that it is no big deal if the amount of counterfeit goods has jumped from $7 million worth in 2005 to $38 million worth in 2012. We must do something about this. There is pressure to do so and we must keep that in mind.

As far as my colleague's second question is concerned, this is far from being a surprise. Two House committees have studied this in the past. Members of the House have spoken to this issue and they are well aware of the scope of the bill.

We should be pleased today. This is about Canadians' health and safety. It is about fighting organized crime and clamping down on cheaters who put fake labels on products. Canadian innovators are working hard, investing all their energy, resources, capital and time in order to contribute to the economy, and they have to deal with cheaters.

The primary duty of a responsible government is to put an end to all this because this situation is absurd. It is time to say enough is enough. Many groups in Canada support this measure regarding the economy.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Mr. Speaker, is this the 46th time allocation, is it the 47th, is it the 45th? It almost sounds like a farm auction. Will it be 47? Will it be 48? Will it be 50? When are the Conservatives going to hit 50?

This the most secretive, debate-reluctant government that the country has ever seen. We could have a little contest here. We could all make offers and bets on what day and what hour they hit 50. It is getting pretty close. Yesterday was 44 and 45, I believe. This one is 46.

This is not only about what is happening in this chamber. Because of the votes on time allocation, the committee that I sit on, which is the international trade committee, has had its meetings cancelled five or six times, so it is shutting down. There are other issues that need to be dealt with, and the way the current government operates prevents us from dealing with real issues at committee. That is a serious issue, because the Conservatives are such an undemocratic bunch.

I had a motion today that I wanted to give notice on at committee. It was to ask the government to table the human rights report under the Canada-Colombia trade agreement, which is an obligation on the government and which it has not tabled as yet, and now I cannot debate that motion at committee. No doubt the committee would have gone in camera anyway, into more secrecy, and an open debate would not have been allowed.

My point is this: the government is not only preventing business and debate in this chamber, but its actions and the way it is handling closure are hurting the ability of committees to do their work.

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the answer is quite simple. I must remind the House that in 2007 the draft of the bill received all-party support at committee. These are the facts of the matter. I have to remind the member that since our government came to office, we took steps to create an effective and balanced enforcement regime for intellectual properties.

Let us remember the corporate law situation. This has been stalled for years, especially under the previous government. We had to update this law. We finally did that, and this is the logical consequence. We want to go further to make sure that down the road Canadians will know we are talking about real things. We do not play any games here.

In 2007, all of the parties agreed, so I do not know why my colleague is complaining. He should be happy. We are now putting forward a law that will protect Canadians' health and safety, combat organized crime and prohibit people from putting fake labels on products. These people jeopardize our economy at the same time that innovators are making efforts to make sure they can drive the economy and increase their exports to create wealth here in this country.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Mr. Speaker, it is nice to finally see the minister up on his feet on this bill, even though it did not actually happen until after time allocation was introduced.

I would think the minister would have cared enough about the bill to be the one to introduce it, but so far we have only had about 10 minutes of debate on the bill. As well, the speech given by the member for Simcoe—Grey was, frankly, disgraceful. She could not stop laughing during her speech, and it happened after midnight. We did not get very much information, and the minister has yet to actually give a proper speech in the House of Commons defending this bill and explaining why it is important for the government to pass it.

Several parts of the bill deal with the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement, which raises serious concerns. Europe has said no to that, but the government is implementing some of those measures in this bill. The numbers the minister mentioned in terms of going from $7 billion to $38 billion are, of course, anecdotal. We have been calling for years for stronger reporting measures to accurately capture how much is being lost to counterfeiting; the government has not yet taken any action on that issue, nor has it put anything into the bill to strengthen the data that we are going to receive.

Why did the minister not feel the bill was important enough to merit a full speech on it before time allocation was brought in?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I must remind my colleague that our government's bill is a made-in-Canada solution that draws from international best practices. What he raises from Europe is just not relevant here. We addressed the issue here; he knows the concerns that were raised in Europe are not part of this bill.

As I said, all of the parties supported the bill at committee in 2007. I do not know why the member tries to slow things down when we know that this measure is desperately needed.

I am very happy that the member for Simcoe—Grey stood in the House, given her knowledge and her skills, and said that we have to take care of the health and safety of Canadians. It is shameful that the member tries to disqualify the member. She had a good speech, and the words that he used are just shameful.

We have to make sure that we take care of the health and safety of Canadians, and we will not make excuses for that.

[Erin O'Toole, Conservative, Durham, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister for his remarks here today.

I am in the fortunate position that some years ago I worked as a lawyer on anti-counterfeiting operations for a company that was experiencing millions of dollars of losses from counterfeiting of branded products, some of those products made in Canada. Those products lead to jobs, and if the member for Scarborough Southwest is looking for a good speech on this, he can come and join me at 10 o'clock this evening and I will entertain him with private sector anecdotes about how important the bill is for our economy.

Reports from the Retail Council of Canada and the Chamber of Commerce have shown that organized crime is generally behind a large portion of counterfeiting operations in North America and around the world. Not only is this a public safety issue, but it could represent a reduction in the proceeds going to organized crime. I wonder if the minister would like to comment on that positive aspect of the bill.

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, absolutely, and I thank my colleague for his good question, because indeed this is what we are talking about here. We are talking about people tricking Canadians, and organized crime is behind it, big time.

It is harmful for Canadians. It jeopardizes health and safety. It also jeopardizes the economy when honest people try to innovate, create new products, find export markets and create wealth, and then have to fight against cheaters like that. It is simply not acceptable.

I am a lawyer by training, and I know exactly what my colleague is talking about. When customers come to the office and they are trying to compete against cheaters, of course we have to ensure that the law can address these issues.

That is what this bill would do. It would give border officers the authority to detain suspected commercial shipments and contact the rights holders. It would allow Canadian businesses to fill a request for assistance with the Canada Border Services Agency, in turn enabling border officers to share information with rights holders regarding suspicious shipments; provide new criminal offences for the commercial possession, manufacture or trafficking of counterfeit trademark goods; provide legitimate owners with new tools to protect their rights and take civil action against infringers; create new offences for trademark counterfeiting; and provide better tools to investigate commercial counterfeiting.

This is what Canadians expect. These are real tools. We will be able to address this problem better and hopefully combat organized crime more efficiently.

[Alain Giguère, NDP, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

Mr. Speaker, this bill is very interesting. This is obviously a critical issue for Canada. Just imagine the horrible impact that counterfeit drugs can have on the health of many Canadians. Imagine if thermostats caused fires. We need a law to address this problem.

The problem is that this bill is like so many others. It is not merely an act; it is an act of faith. People seem to think it was divinely inspired and therefore cannot be changed. That attitude makes it hard to debate the issue. The problem is that the minister seems to be saying that this bill is important and we have to pass it quickly.

If this bill is so important and so pressing, why on earth did they wait three months to introduce it in the House? They are introducing it at the end of June, and they expect us to vote on it right away.

Did it not occur to them to introduce it two or three months ago so that we could have had a positive, useful debate on it?

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, how nice to hear a New Democratic colleague acknowledge the virtues of this bill. This bill is good, and other bills are good too. We implemented an economic action plan in 2008-09 to tackle the global recession, and we continued that work in 2010-11. Now we have to curb spending and continue to implement positive economic measures.

I would like to remind my colleague that all parties supported the first version of this bill in 2007. There is nothing new here. Things progress; things happen. We were not trying to surprise anyone with this bill. On the contrary, the time has come to take a look at this problem.

According to the RCMP, the value of counterfeit goods rose from $7.6 million in 2005 to $38 million in 2012. What more does the member want? We cannot afford to wait and keep saying that we will debate this issue eventually.

The parties all supported the first version of this bill, so now it is time to move forward. We must be able to tell Canadians that they finally have the tools to take aim at cheaters. These tools will protect Canadians' health and safety.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, we want to clarify something on this side of the House, as we have done for several other bills in recent weeks. What we want to tell this government is that some bills introduced many years ago have been delayed for reasons that are quite clear.

For example, in September 2008, the Prime Minister decided to call an election. At that time, no one was expecting an election. Obviously when this happened, everything slowed down and we were forced to start from scratch.

I will use the example of Bill S-2, which was first introduced as Bill C-47. The Conservatives were forced to reintroduce it as Bill C-8. What happened to Bill C-8? In December 2009, Parliament was prorogued, so we had to start again.

These are the kinds of delays caused by this government. This bill was then replaced by Bill S-4, and the Conservatives sat on their hands for seven months. In May 2011 it was reintroduced as Bill S-2. Two years went by while the Conservatives did nothing. Suddenly, in June 2013 it became absolutely urgent to pass this bill because it had been on the order paper for so long.

The fact is that this situation is a direct result of their delays—

[The Acting Speaker, Bruce Stanton]

The hon. Minister of Industry.

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, it is incongruous to hear my colleague complaining about the delays. I would also add that, in 2007, the draft bill received the consent of all parties and should have been passed.

With regard to 2008, it is obvious that Parliament was dysfunctional. The Liberal Party was not talking at all about the economy, and the NDP was talking about hurting the economy, as we know, when we were facing a potential major economic crisis. We took measures to get through the crisis. We launched the economic action plan. Fortunately, there was a prorogation because the opposition parties were talking about forming an undemocratic coalition in order to implement measures that would have been disastrous for the economy.

We were the last country to go into the recession and the first to come out of it. We have created one million net jobs since the recession. That is a real economic record.

I believe that the principle has not changed. My understanding is that the opposition parties still approve of the draft bill. Then why not adopt it right now? We would finally be able to tell Canadians that health and safety are protected, that we are fighting organized crime, that we are prohibiting fake labels and that we are providing the tools to fight traffickers. What more could we ask for?

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask the minister a question.

In 2007, which he has been talking about, yes, there was first-party support for this bill. Things have changed in six years. Technology has changed. The industry committee has been studying this bill and hearing from witnesses. To all of a sudden bring this bill forward without any debate makes one start questioning whether the minister has even spoken to the other minister about public safety.

They have cut the budget of the border security agency. There are fewer border guards to do the things the minister is saying they are able to do. There are fewer people looking at this stuff, but the government wants to increase their workload. How are they going to be able to do this? We need to come up with a conclusion that works for Canadians.

This bill has been long awaited on this side of the House. We have been talking about it. The government is saying that something happened in 2007, but the BlackBerry has even changed since that time.

We needed time to debate this in the House, but once again, the Conservatives are blind. It is about ideology rather than about making this a good bill to protect Canadians. It is again Conservative hypocrisy and mismanagement on a file that has been going on for too long.

[Christian Paradis, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Mr. Speaker, first of all, in 2007, this bill's draft received the support of the party, so I do not know where my colleague is trying to go. It is a technical change.

If we follow this logic for copyright, for example, this is exactly what he tried to say. Copyright was not changed. It was stalled. It was harmful for the economy. It was harmful for the creators. We took the leadership to get this thing ahead. The principles are there. We have a balanced approach in terms of intellectual property.

Let us talk about hypocrisy. On the copyright law, they proposed an iPod tax. This is totally irresponsible. They continued after that with their carbon tax of $21 billion on the backs of Canadians, but they do not care about that.

They are anti-trade. They are anti-commerce. They are anti-economy. We have here a sound and solid bill that would take care of Canadians. The big stakeholders, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian food producers, all agree with it.

We have to combat organized crime. We have to take care of Canadians' health and safety, and we will not apologize for that.