Yes. Thank you, dear colleague, for asking that question.
On the point about the Competition Act, it was really like a three-part act. As you said, in budget 2022 we did a number of things at the time. There was an issue about penalties and wage-fixing, for example. I called that a down payment on competition. We knew at the time that there was much more to be done. That's why we've had this consultation work that has lasted for about two years. I think members on both sides would agree that competition is key in our country. If nothing has been done in 37 years and you're going to do something, you need to do it quickly but certainly you need to do it right. That's why we have consulted widely.
What we are presenting in Bill C-56 are these three measures—subpoena power, an end to the efficiencies defence, and looking at vertical agreements—but you also saw in the fall economic statement a reflection of what we heard. In the “what we heard” report, there are a number of things that people have said we need to look at. You're talking about predatory pricing, about what they call “killer acquisitions”, about greenwashing and a number of other things.
Take greenwashing as an example. We're going to have a regime where if you're making a statement that what you're doing is improving the environment, or you're linking that to your record on the environment, you'll have a framework around that. I think with these provisions we're also allowing more private parties to raise actions. This is really going to complement things.
I think we'll be the government, Ms. Thompson, that will have done for this country, with both the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act, the biggest reform we've seen in decades for the country to really be able to protect itself. We want foreign investment, but we also want more tools in the tool box to protect our national and economic security. On Bill C-56 and what you find in the fall economic statement, if you take these three acts together, you'll have the broadest reform of competition in the country.
The reason we want to do that is to bring us into the best in class in the G7. I'm always looking at what we're doing and how it would compare with the G7 countries. I think these reforms are much needed to really modernize our framework and for market participants to take us seriously when it comes to competition. The subpoena power comes to me as one very simple example that people look at and say, “Wow, imagine. To think that in Canada you have to engage with the competition commissioner, but he doesn't really have any power.” That doesn't make sense. We need to put a stop to that as quickly as possible.
The work of this committee and Bill C-56 will help with that.