Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The purpose of amendment BQ‑5 is to incorporate an element of the bill introduced by Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the NDP. In our opinion, it is a very important point. It was raised on Monday during debate. When a business has a regional monopoly, there is no room for competition, as in the case of a service station located in the middle of an isolated highway. Given the fixed costs, no competing business could ever be more efficient in that location than the one that has the monopoly. When profits and prices are considered to be too high, there must therefore be a power to intervene.
I am also thinking of situations in villages. In the village where my parents live, there is room for only one grocery store. The residents of the village are lucky because the grocer is a good one who doesn't try to sell their products at prices that are too high. However, if prices were too high, the small number of residents would not make up a big enough market for a second grocery store to open, given the fixed costs.
In our opinion, this is a very important provision in Mr. Singh's bill that is entirely appropriate here. That is why we are moving this amendment, which creates a new section.