Bill C-56

Affordable Housing and Groceries Act

An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act

Part 1 amends the Excise Tax Act in order to implement a temporary enhancement to the GST New Residential Rental Property Rebate in respect of new purpose-built rental housing.
Part 2 amends the Competition Act to, among other things,
(a) establish a framework for an inquiry to be conducted into the state of competition in a market or industry;
(b) permit the Competition Tribunal to make certain orders even if none of the parties to an agreement or arrangement — a significant purpose of which is to prevent or lessen competition in any market — are competitors; and
(c) repeal the exceptions in sections 90.1 and 96 of the Act involving efficiency gains.

Report Stage

[Randeep Sarai, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence]

Mr. Speaker, last November, the government introduced Bill C-59, the fall economic statement implementation act of 2023. Among other measures, Bill C-59 proposed significant amendments to our Competition Act. I am proud to share that the Standing Committee on Finance has recently completed its review of the bill and has made several amendments to further strengthen existing proposals.

For many years, Canada's markets have been described as overly concentrated and not competitive enough. In fact, the landmark Competition Bureau study last year, based on Statistics Canada data and analysis from a University of Toronto professor, made critical findings in this respect, showing that competitive intensity has been on the decline over the past two decades, which is reflected in a number of important indicators. These trends have been exacerbated by the inflationary pressures our country is facing following a global pandemic and increasing geopolitical uncertainty.

Bill C-59 was introduced to help build a stronger domestic economy through more competition and contestable markets to bring lower prices, more choice and better product quality for consumers across all sectors. The proposed amendments to the Competition Act in Bill C-59 arose out of a comprehensive public consultation conducted from November 2022 to March 2023.

Having heard from stakeholders, the government introduced Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, which was ultimately passed by this Parliament in December 2023.

Completing its response to the consultation, the government then presented a more extensive set of reforms by way of Bill C-59. The measures in this bill include strengthening provisions with respect to merger review, enhancing protections for consumers, workers and the environment, and broadening opportunities for private enforcement.

We should not underestimate just how critical these reforms are for modernizing our laws and promoting competitive markets. The commissioner of competition has stated on multiple occasions that the amendments in Bill C-56 and Bill C-59 are “generational.” I would therefore like to highlight some important reforms that have been proposed.

To begin with, anti-competitive collaborations between competitors would be under increased scrutiny as the bureau would be able to examine and, if necessary, seek penalties against coordinated conduct that lessens competition. Up until now, at worst the participants would be told to stop what they are doing. The expansion of private enforcement and the ability of the Competition Tribunal to issue monetary payment orders in cases initiated by private parties are also significant changes to our existing enforcement approach. By relaxing the requirements to bring a case and providing an incentive to bring matters directly to the Competition Tribunal, there would be greater accountability throughout the marketplace and more action on cases that the Competition Bureau may not be able to take.

More competition is always beneficial to consumers, but the bill also takes some direct approaches to protect consumers. These include strengthening provisions on deceptive marketing, such as applying requirements more broadly so vendors must present the full cost of a product or service up front without holding back mandatory fees, known as “drip pricing.” The law is further being refined to make it easier to ensure that advertised rebates are authentic when compared to a vendor's past prices. Businesses making environmental claims about their products would be required to have undertaken adequate and proper testing before advertising their benefits. Together, these changes would ensure that consumers have accurate and complete information about products and services in order to make informed purchasing decisions.

I would also like to highlight barriers to repair, which have been an issue of great importance in recent years. Where manufacturers refuse to provide the means of diagnosis or repair in a way that harms competition, remedial orders would be available to require them to furnish what is necessary. This could help a wider variety of service providers offer more options to consumers when choosing where to repair their products.

On top of everything I have mentioned so far, anti-reprisal provisions would also ensure that the system can function. These are included to ensure that workers and small businesses are protected from potential retaliation when they work with the authorities to address anti-competitive behaviour and violations of the act by other parties.

These reforms, along with various administrative changes, aimed at facilitating efficient enforcement of the act, are crucial to ensuring that Canadian markets remain competitive and in line with international practices.

It has been acknowledged by all members of the House that our competition framework requires reform. My colleagues have engaged in thoughtful discussion on ways to modernize the existing marketplace framework. Nothing exemplifies this better than the enthusiasm shown by members of all parties to strengthen these provisions of Bill C-59 once it reaches the Standing Committee on Finance, especially in light of recommendations made by the commissioner of competition.

The amendments adopted in committee notably relate to merger review, deceptive marketing, and refusal to repair. The committee members were quite interested in enhancing protections for consumers and the environment, and these are the ones that I would like to draw attention to now.

First, clarifications were made to ensure that in the Competition Act's various provisions on drip pricing, the only amounts that could be excluded from the upfront price are those imposed by law directly on the purchaser of the product, such as sales tax. Next, with the committee's amendment, sellers advertising reduced prices would now be required to be able to prove that regular price is authentic in order to publicize their discounts.

On the topic of doubtful environmental claims, or so-called greenwashing, the law would also require that those who make environmental claims about their businesses or business activities, not only specific products, must have adequate and proper substantiation in hand to support such claims. On refusal to repair, the committee added some helpful clarifications to ensure that the scope of provision was broad enough.

In sum, amidst the period of inflation and growing affordability concerns, it is crucial that our markets remain resilient and open to competition. Bill C-59 would reform Canada's competitive landscape, encourage greater innovation, and improve affordability for Canadians.

Therefore, I would like to urge my colleagues from all sides of the House to work together to expeditiously pass this crucial piece of legislation.

[George Chahal, Liberal, Calgary Skyview, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to rise today to speak to Bill C-59, which delivers on key measures from our 2023 fall economic statement. It is designed to make life more affordable, to build more homes faster and to forge a stronger economy.

This is a key part of our government's economic plan; since 2015, our plan has been squarely focused on improving life for the middle class and those who want to join it. From enhancing the Canada workers benefit to creating the Canadian dental care plan; delivering regulated child care for $10 a day, on average, in eight provinces and territories so far; and providing 11 million individuals and families with targeted inflation relief through a one-time grocery rebate in July 2023, our actions have strengthened the social safety net that millions of Canadians depend on.

In fact, since 2015, our government has lowered the poverty rate by 4.6%, thanks to direct income supports and a strong economy that benefits all Canadians, all the while ensuring that we maintain the lowest deficit and net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7.

Compared with before the pandemic, we can proudly say that, today, over one million more Canadians are employed. However, we cannot refute that still-elevated consumer prices and looming mortgage renewals continue to put pressure on many Canadian families or say that there is not more important work ahead of us to address affordability.

When it comes to housing affordability, supply is at the heart of the major challenges facing Canadians. That is why we are taking real, concrete action to build more homes faster, including new rental housing. Bill C-56 proposed to eliminate the GST on new rental projects, such as apartment buildings, student housing and senior residences, built specifically for long-term rental accommodations. Bill C-59 goes even further by proposing to eliminate the GST on eligible new housing co-operatives built for long-term rental, as outlined in the fall economic statement.

Swift passage of the bill would enable more people in every province and territory to find the types of rental housing they need at a price they can afford. The legislation would also help protect tenants from renovictions, which statistics show are displacing individuals and families, as well as increasing the rate of homelessness.

Our federal government also recognizes the clear link between housing and infrastructure, which is why the fall economic statement proposes to establish the department of housing, infrastructure and communities, currently, Infrastructure Canada. Bill C-59 would formally establish this new department and clarify its powers and duties as the federal lead on improving public infrastructure and housing, so our communities would have the infrastructure they need to grow and remain resilient.

Another important housing measure in the fall economic statement includes cutting the red tape that prevents construction workers from moving across the country to build homes, as well as cracking down on non-compliant short-term rentals, which are keeping far too many homes in our communities off the market.

Our government is also providing $15 billion in new loans through the apartment construction loan program, which accelerates the construction of rental housing by providing low-cost financing to builders and developers. As recently announced by my colleague, the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, we will be broadening this program by including student residences to help more students find housing across the country. This crucial change would relieve pressure on the housing market by freeing up housing supply that already exists in communities. Budget 2024 delivered a top-up to support the construction of even more units.

In addition, we have launched the Canadian mortgage charter, which “details the tailored mortgage relief that the government expects lenders to provide to Canadians facing a challenging financial situation with the mortgage on their principal residence. It also reaffirms that insured mortgage holders are not required under the regulations to requalify under the minimum qualifying rate when switching lenders at mortgage renewal.” Our goal is to protect Canadians by ensuring they have the support they need to afford their homes.

On a similar topic, I would be remiss if I did not also mention the new first-time homebuyer tax-free savings account, which allows Canadians to save up to $40,000 tax-free towards the purchase of their first home. We launched this account in April 2023, and to date, it has helped more than 750,000 Canadians, and counting, reach their first home savings goals.

A more competitive economy benefits all Canadians by offering more choice and greater affordability for consumers and businesses alike. Building on changes proposed in Bill C-56, Bill C-59 would amend both the Competition Act and the Competition Tribunal Act to modernize competition in Canada, thereby helping to stabilize prices across the entire economy. This includes supporting Canadians' right to repair by preventing manufacturers from refusing to provide the means of repair of devices and products in an anti-competitive manner. It also includes modernizing merger reviews, enhancing protections for consumers, workers and the environment, including improving the focus on worker impacts in competition analysis and empowering the commissioner of competition to review and crack down on a wide selection of anti-competitive collaborations. Finally, it includes broadening the reach of the law by enabling more private parties to bring cases before the Competition Tribunal and receive payment if they are successful. These truly generational changes would drive lower prices and innovation, while fuelling economic growth, helping to further counteract inflationary pressures.

Today, I outlined just a few examples of how Bill C-59 makes targeted, responsible investments to improve affordability, build more homes and build an economy that works for everyone, all while taking care not to feed inflation. These are real solutions that, when combined with new measures announced in our recent budget and Canada's housing plan, will help us tackle Canada's housing challenge while improving affordability across the board. That is why I urge my fellow parliamentarians to continue to support this important piece of legislation.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Innovation]

Madam Speaker, last November, the government introduced Bill C-59, the fall economic statement implementation act. Among other measures, Bill C-59 proposed significant amendments to our Competition Act.

I am proud to share that the Standing Committee on Finance has recently completed its review of the bill and has made several amendments to further strengthen existing proposals. Before I get into some of the key details of this critical piece of legislation, I feel it is important to highlight the economic context in which this legislation is being introduced.

Countries around the world are dealing with higher inflation due to a global pandemic, further exacerbated by geopolitical uncertainty. Despite the fearmongering of the Conservative members opposite, Canada's economy is remarkably strong and resilient. That is truly due to the hard work of Canadians themselves. A few proof points demonstrate this: Canada's net debt-to-GDP ratio is well below that of our G7 peers; our deficit is declining; and we are one of the only two G7 countries with an AAA credit rating from independent experts. Something that we can all be quite proud of is that Canada received the highest per capita foreign direct investment in the G7 in the first three quarters of 2023. Some may ask why those facts matter. These proof points show that Canada is in an enviable position when it comes to fiscal management. That position is exactly the reason our government can afford to make transformative investments in improving housing affordability and making life cost less.

Unlike Conservatives, who cut support for Canadians, we believe in supporting the middle class through growth and investment. I hear from my constituents often that their top concerns are being able to find an affordable place to live and wanting to find ways to make their day-to-day expenses cost less. This legislation addresses these two core issues head on.

For many years, Canada's markets have been described as overly concentrated and not competitive enough. In fact, a landmark Competition Bureau study last year, based on Statistics Canada data and analysis from a University of Toronto professor, made critical findings in this respect, showing that competitive intensity has been on the decline over the past two decades, reflected in a number of important indicators.

Bill C-59 was introduced to help build a stronger domestic economy through more competition and contestable markets, to bring lower prices, more choice and better product quality for consumers across all sectors. The measures in this bill include strengthening provisions with respect to merger review, enhancing protections for consumers, workers and the environment, and broadening opportunities for private enforcement.

We should not underestimate just how critical these reforms are for modernizing our law and promoting competitive markets. The Commissioner of Competition has stated on multiple occasions that the amendments in Bill C‑56, the affordable housing and groceries act, which was ultimately passed by this Parliament in December 2023, and Bill C-59, are generational. I would therefore like to highlight some important reforms that have been proposed.

To begin with, anti-competitive collaborations between competitors will be under increased scrutiny, as the bureau will be able to examine and, if necessary, seek penalties against coordinated conduct that lessens competition. The expansion of private enforcement and the ability for the Competition Tribunal to issue monetary payment orders in cases initiated by private parties is also a significant change to our existing enforcement approach.

More competition is always beneficial to consumers, but the bill also takes some more direct approaches to protect consumers. These include strengthening provisions on deceptive marketing so that vendors must present the full cost of a product or service upfront, without holding back mandatory fees, which is known as drip pricing. Businesses making environmental claims about their products will be required to have undertaken adequate and proper testing before advertising those benefits. Together, these changes would ensure that consumers have accurate and complete information about products and services to make informed purchasing decisions.

We have also made strides on the right to repair. Thanks to the bill, a wider variety of service providers would be able to offer more options to consumers when they are choosing where to repair their products. These reforms, along with various administrative changes aimed at facilitating efficient enforcement of the act, are crucial to ensuring that Canadian markets remain competitive and in line with international best practices.

It has been acknowledged by all members of the House that our competition framework requires reform, and my colleagues have engaged in thoughtful discussion on ways to modernize the existing marketplace framework. The committee members were notably quite interested in enhancing protections for consumers and the environment, and I would like to draw attention to some now.

First, clarifications were made to ensure that in the Competition Act's various provisions on drip pricing, the only amounts that can be excluded from the upfront price, are those imposed by law directly on the purchaser of the products, such as sales taxes.

Next, with the committee's amendment, sellers advertising reduced prices would be required to be able to prove that the regular price is authentic to publicize discounts. On the topic of doubtful environmental claims, or so-called greenwashing, the law would also require that those who make environmental claims about their business or business activities, not only specific products, have adequate and proper substantiation in hand to support such claims.

This bill goes beyond making generational changes to competition in Canada. It also takes concrete action to build more homes faster, including new rental housing. Bill C-59 proposes to eliminate GST on eligible new housing co-operatives built for long-term rental, as outlined in the fall economic statement. This is just one of many measures our government is proposing to ensure that more people across all provinces and territories find the housing they need, at a price that they can afford.

Amidst a period of inflation and growing affordability concerns, it is crucial that our markets remain resilient and open to competition. Bill C-59 would reform Canada's competitive landscape, encourage greater innovation and improve affordability for Canadians. It would also get more rental housing built faster so that we can ensure housing is affordable for every generation.

I would urge my colleagues from all sides of the House to work together to expeditiously pass this crucial piece of legislation, instead of doing what we have seen in committee, which is to slow the bill down. We continue to see the Conservatives try to obstruct key pieces of legislation that are helping Canadians in their time of need, and that is not what we have been put here to do.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Part of the powers that were given by Bill C-56 were also to have the minister of ISED—because you are still a part of ISED—direct studies. Has the minister asked at all for reviews or studies on the state of airline competition in Canada, yes or no?

[Melissa Fisher, Deputy Commissioner, Mergers Directorate, Competition Bureau Canada]

Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you very much for the invitation to appear before you today. My name is Melissa Fisher. I'm the deputy commissioner of the Competition Bureau's mergers directorate. Joining me today is my colleague Brad Callaghan, who is the associate deputy commissioner of the policy, planning and advocacy directorate.

The bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses. We administer and enforce Canada's Competition Act, a law of general application that applies to every sector of the economy. We investigate and address abuses of market power, anti-competitive mergers, price fixing and deceptive marketing practices. The bureau also advocates for pro-competitive government rules and regulations.

It’s important to recognize that we are enforcers, not adjudicators. The Competition Act requires us to meet several thresholds and standards, such as proving that there has been a significant harm to competition.

I'll also note that in the case of airline mergers there is a public interest review process that can be triggered by the Minister of Transport. When that happens, our statutory role becomes one of adviser, rather than enforcer. Our role is to identify any competition concerns relating to the merger to the Minister of Transport by way of a public report, and the minister makes the final decision on whether to recommend approval of the proposed transaction.

We've done this in three transactions in recent years—first, the First Air and Canadian North transaction in 2019, then the proposed merger between Air Canada and Air Transat in 2020, and most recently the WestJet-Sunwing merger. We believe it's important to correct the record in light of prior testimony that you have heard. The bureau did not approve these mergers. In fact, our public reports outlined the serious competition concerns that each of them raised.

We also participated in the last major review of the Canada Transportation Act, which was carried out in 2015. Our submission made a number of recommendations to government that we believe would result in lower prices, higher-quality services, and greater innovation in the transportation industry.

In light of recent events that have raised questions about the state of competition in the airline sector, the bureau has been considering the value of a more fulsome study, separate from enforcement matters that review specific transactions or behaviour. With that in mind, we have initiated the process to begin a market study of the industry. This will be our first such study under our new powers, which were granted in December 2023 through Bill C-56. This follows our most recent study of the retail grocery sector.

We intend to study the state of competition in the airline industry and how governments across Canada can improve competition for the benefit of domestic air passengers, as well as the workers and entrepreneurs who enable these services. We will be providing more details on this market study of the airline industry in the coming days when we launch a consultation on its terms of reference.

Before fielding your questions, I would note that the law requires the bureau to conduct investigations in private and keep the information we have confidential. This obligation may prevent us from discussing some past or current investigations.

I would like to thank the committee for the opportunity to appear today. We look forward to your questions.

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I am fortunate to work with my hon. colleague on the Standing Committee on Finance. He always has a thorough knowledge of the issues and makes constructive suggestions.

I want to ask him about the amendment to the Competition Act. He referred to it in his speech. For years, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry has been announcing a comprehensive reform. However, the reforms have come in bits and pieces, in Bill C‑56 and Bill C‑59.

The commissioner of competition told us it was not enough, that it would take this and that. Public officials replied that if we did such and such, it would affect something else that was not in the bill. In fact, we were supposed to have a bill to reform the entire Competition Act.

Does my colleague think that doing things this way amounts to incompetence on the part of the government?

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Madam Speaker, I was not expecting such a lively debate tonight. I thank the hon. member for Vancouver Kingsway for his speech, and I congratulate him on the six amendments that he was able to get passed in committee. He touched on them briefly. I would like him to tell us more about that, but I will ask my question.

There have been a lot of changes and improvements to the Competition Act, some of which were requested by the commissioner of competition. When it comes to the Competition Act, we know that Canada had a long way to go. Bill C‑56 improved the act, and Bill C‑59 and its amendments are improving it even more.

Does the member think that the system is now robust enough that consumers can expect healthy competition at all times, or is there still more work to do in that regard?

[Gabriel Ste-Marie, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Esteemed colleagues, we're in a predicament here. It's really not easy to do what we're doing here.

On the one hand, we have a competition issue and that has an impact on the economy, that's for sure. There are a lot of things being done to address that. The commissioner of competition is suggesting amendments to the bill with respect to the Competition Act. I consider him to be an expert in the field. He's in a position of authority and he's suggesting that we adopt the amendment Mr. Davies proposed to us.

On the other hand, senior officials from the Department of Finance are telling us that some key issues around this could have serious consequences.

Our role is that of legislator, but we're caught between two authorities who are not saying the same thing. That's a real problem.

How did we get here? For years, the government has been promising that it will do a comprehensive reform of the Competition Act, but instead of going through with that reform, it's using a piecemeal approach with this omnibus bill, which deals with a whole host of subjects and acts and implements certain provisions of last year's budget. Meanwhile, this year's budget has been tabled and there's a briefing tomorrow on the notice of ways and means. That's where we're at. We never get to see the big picture.

That leads to situations like the one we're in right now. The government is telling us that we have to look at the Competition Act as a whole. That's its reasoning for rejecting the amendments proposed at the commissioner's request. For example, it's arguing that the threshold would be different in two parts of the act. The government never lets us see that darned big picture.

In my opinion, this shows that the government isn't doing its job well. If they'd wanted to do things properly and ensure that we, elected members who are legislators, had the time to get a complete look at this situation, they would have moved these amendments in a separate bill. That way, we could have taken the time we needed to get a good look at this.

The committee has heard from the commissioner of competition. We've heard the officials' presentations. Now, some officials with us are still making some very important and valuable points. We're flying half-blind, and we can't see the big picture. We're in this situation because the government is doing a bad job, and I condemn the situation.

Yes, the commissioner did say that the issue of his powers to block mergers was largely resolved thanks to the provisions in Bill C‑56 and what's in Bill C‑59. That said, when the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food did its study on grocery prices, the commissioner of competition's arguments were the same ones this amendment is based on, and that committee accepted them. Therefore, if we don't pass this amendment, we're putting ourselves at odds with the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food.

Frankly, I would have preferred that the commissioner be with us to debate this amendment in depth.

We're hearing from public servants that there are some very significant issues. However, their arguments are at odds with the commissioner of competition's request, even though the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food accepted the commissioner's suggestions.

I find myself having to reject valid arguments to decide on this. As it stands, I will support the commissioner of competition's suggestions, agree with the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food and the work it has done, and support Mr. Davies' amendment. Nevertheless, I strongly condemn this situation.

[Samir Chhabra]

I am avoiding the fact specifics of that particular case or example, in the sense that there are a number of important changes to the Competition Act that have been proposed—there's Bill C-56, which has received royal assent, and then again there are changes being proposed here through Bill C-59. I think the key piece to recognize is that on mergers in certain federally regulated sectors, including in finance and including in transport, for example, there's a two-key system. There's the Competition Bureau making its assessment and providing analysis and advice, and then there's also an opportunity for a ministerial decision to be taken. Nothing that's being proposed here or in Bill C-56 specifically changed those ministerial engagements.

[Martin Simard]

It's asking us to opine on the decisions the tribunal has taken over the years.

I think the tidbit about the “least intrusive” remedy is fairly universal. If you look at all the merger guidelines around the world, there's a network of enforcers, and they have this part. I think the notion is you want to stop the harm, but you want to keep, if you can, the benefits of a merger, like efficiencies and so on. I don't think Canada is unique in taking the least intrusive remedy that fixes the problem. I think that's the important caveat.

I agree with you that those were the two things the commissioner highlighted, and he clearly feels that the decisions over time have been too timid and the tribunal should be constrained by the act to be more aggressive. It is also perhaps worth replacing this in the overall reforms of C-56 and C-59, which generally really strengthen...so, no efficiencies defence and stronger abuse of dominance. There's a lot that has been changed.

We were also going to talk about the potentially structural remedies just after this, and there's already the ability now for the tribunal to take into account market share alone, so there's a lot that has been done. Even if the diagnostic is that it was too weak before, there has already been a lot of change to strengthen this, and whether this one is needed or not is a question for the committee.

[Julie Dzerowicz, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

First, thank you for being here and for answering all these questions.

I think part of the reason it's so important, at least for me, is, one, we have made some really amazing progress on and generational change to our competition law, and when the commissioner came, he acknowledged that. Then he also said he felt there were two really important additions we also needed to consider for C-59. My ears did perk up at that, because I think he was very happy with C-56, C-19 and, now, the changes around competition here in C-59. However, he then very deliberately said there are two things he really feels we need to have right now. I believe, if I'm correct, the amendment that's before us.... It was when he was talking about merger reviews that he said:

Merger review is our first line of defence for protecting competition. However, when we find that a merger is anti-competitive, the law does not require strong remedies.

That's this one that we're referring to.

Then he said:

The Supreme Court held that the goal of a merger remedy is simply to mitigate the harm from a merger so that it is no longer substantial, and to do so in the least intrusive way. As a result, we sometimes end up with merger remedies that take a strong competitor in a market and replace it with a weaker one.

Do you agree with his assessment on that? Do you agree with those statements?

[Samir Chhabra]

In clause 236, the government had proposed to make an adjustment to the English version of the act to ensure that representations about prices—particularly a discounted product—are presumed to be making the comparison to their own prices, rather than potentially to an unspecified market price or the prices of competitors. This enables the bureau to be much clearer and more targeted about going after any deceptive marketing in this space that takes advantage of a different selling price.

The bureau, of course, has its investigatory tools and the ability to compel information from organizations that are under investigation. Following the passage of Bill C-56, it also has the ability to seek orders to compel information in the course of a market study. There are a couple of different ways that the bureau can get access to this type of information.

My understanding of the change that's being proposed by NDP-7 is that it would introduce additional requirements that include demonstrating or establishing that a business has “sold a substantial volume of the product at that price or a higher price within a reasonable period of time before or after the making of the representation” and that “they have offered the product at that price or a higher price in good faith for a substantial period of time”.

Some considerations before the committee are about whether those time periods are testable, relatable and consistently applied across the board. It's about whether businesses would have the ability to understand what's expected of them in that circumstance and, frankly, what a “substantial period” might mean. Do any interim discounts that were offered for a short period of time in between, say, a Black Friday and then a Boxing Day, obviate the ability to demonstrate it as a discount, if they've done it within previous months?

Those are a few issues for the committee's consideration today.

[Matthew Boswell]

As I set out in my opening, rebuttable structural presumptions are incredibly important and would be a very significant change in terms of merger law in Canada. As I pointed out, it's not some sort of magic thing that we've come up with at the bureau by ourselves. It's an approach they've been taking in the United States for 60 years, including through endorsing it at the level of the Supreme Court of the United States. That's why we make a strong point about how Bill C-59 could be amended. We provide very clear language on how it could be amended to mirror the U.S. merger guidelines.

The other point would be the remedy standard, which is—I went through it in my opening as well in terms of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom—to restore competition to what it was before, when you have an anti-competitive merger. That should be the remedy.

Those two amendments, combined with repealing the efficiencies defence—which happened, as you will recall, in Bill C-56—would probably be the most significant amendments to our merger law ever. That's why we're pushing so hard. As the enforcer who sees these things, we're at the coalface every day. That's why we're pushing so hard for these amendments. They would make a big difference.

[Alexandre Boulerice, NDP, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

All right. We'll have to take a closer look. I also imagine that your office would need more resources to be able to conduct these investigations and have access to all the necessary expertise.

I now have a question about the cost of living. Many of the people we represent tell us about the rising cost of living and the cost of many things, including the grocery basket. Food is becoming increasingly expensive. There are provisions relating to this in Bill C‑56 and in Bill C‑59.

I have a very naive question, where I put myself in the place of the citizens I represent: Can we have hope, thanks to the provisions of Bill C‑59, that the cost of groceries will stabilize and perhaps even decrease? We can't control global inflation, I understand that, but can the measures in this bill give people hope that prices will stop rising as they have and that we'll stop seeing crazy prices?

[Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay, Bloc, Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC]

That's very good, thank you.

I now turn to the representatives of the Competition Bureau Canada, namely Mr. Durocher, Mr. Boswell and Ms. Pratt.

The letter that the bureau sent to the committee on March 1 states that the amendments proposed in Bill C‑59, as well as the recent reforms made in bills C‑19 and C‑56, represent a generational upgrade to Canada's competition legal framework. All three bills mentioned are budget implementation bills.

Do you believe that reform of the Competition Act, through a bill dealing solely with it, would be beneficial so that parliamentarians can weigh every effect of the act and of any amendments made to such a bill?