Absolutely. This is something that I've heard come up a few times, particularly the international competitive situation--not the legal comparatives, but the international competitive situation--so I want to try to unwrap some of that.
First, this bill does not outlaw electronic communications. It outlaws unsolicited electronic communications where there's no business relationship, where there's no consent to the communication, so let's not overstate the impact of this bill. What it tries to do is bring back control over electronic communications to the hands of the user, whether that's a consumer or a business. Let's not lose sight of the productivity gains that this legislation promises Canadian businesses. That's something that I just don't think is coming up in these discussions and that we really need to keep our eye on.
Second, on the international comparative on the legal front, I just want to say that I think this bill is a significant improvement over the U.S. legislation, the CAN-SPAM legislation, which, frankly, is a “do not hesitate to spam” bill or law.