I wouldn't ask you to pursue that for those reasons, because it would be a matter sub judice. But it's my understanding that in that case, an individual mistakenly gave information to the bureau thinking that because they were not part of the deal there was somehow some infraction of the Competition Act. The bureau was unable to take the information, get it on record, and then proceed with the charges, which are ongoing. There was a lot of chest thumping when that happened. The overall assumption or impression left, in the absence of my explanation, was that the Competition Act works. In fact, you stumbled on it.
I'll leave that. I want to ask a question with respect to what Mr. Wallace quite readily pointed out. In 1989 you had several players who had their own wholesale price. I'm not talking about retail here, because I think it's pretty clear. We can debate until the cows come home what price inversions look like. If Costco in Mississauga or wherever they are in Ontario doesn't want to charge a retail margin and they want to invite people to come in, that's up to them.
What I think Mr. Vincent is most concerned about is what's happened at the wholesale level, which is the picture we don't exactly see. That's of course where you see identical regionally based prices. Is that a reflection of a lack of competition, or is it just super-competition? One makes the price, and the others simply follow. Or is it because, as has been quite rightly pointed out, they share a product, region by region, for matters of efficiency? I won't conclude why that is but will simply underline that all of your investigations have been predictably useless and irrelevant, because they're following only certain assumptions about the market. Quite apart from who provides you with information and how you acquire information, there has been no global study in this industry, or for that matter in others.
I recall one many years ago that I tried to initiate on the issue of the grocery industry. Justice Kelen, who is on the Federal Court now, was co-author. I did that because we felt that the bureau and the Competition Act that was written in 1986 failed to appreciate the rather distinct and dramatic changes taking place that were impacting consumers and the competitive process throughout the country.
My question to you is about the power of inquiry, which you may see as redundant to the powers you currently have. There's been no change to subsection 10(1) of the “inquiry by commissioner” section in the Competition Act. Is that correct?