Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here. I apologize I was not able to be here the last time you were here, at the beginning.
You can imagine my surprise that a piece of legislation that has been presented has not had the full benefit of a lot of witnesses.
Other than gasoline, I don't think I have heard from my constituents, and I challenge other members to produce the same, that there is somehow a massive rush of concern about the weights and measures of shaved salami or pastrami. A concern, however, has been raised for some time about accuracy in measurement.
Initially the report by Glen McGregor in the Ottawa Citizen at the height of fuel prices served as an interesting point, when the suggestion was made that virtually one in every four or more meters or pumps were askew and not in favour of the consumer.
Your minister then came with another report after the random surveys, or the surveys themselves, and suggested that the number that were dysfunctional and did not favour the consumer had now changed to one in 25. The data on which you have predicated this information, in my view, has never been made public. Therefore I don't know if the surveys checking these pumps—I believe 8,000 in all—were done randomly or if they were based on complaint. Can you clarify where this last round of tests came from, and where is the data specifically?