During what we call a preliminary investigation, if we believe that there has been or may have been a violation of the law, in order to investigate properly, we need to use our formal powers, namely section 11 of the act, which provides that a court authorizes us to send companies a subpoena requesting information. That is one of the ways that we can proceed. This can also be done voluntarily as well. Sometimes companies, wanting to avoid getting a subpoena, provide us with the information.
Once we have all of that, we make a decision as to whether or not a section of the act has truly been violated. We launch an inquiry, we ascertain the facts as to whether or not the law really has been broken. If we believe that the answer is yes, we generally discuss the matter with the party that has potentially broken the law to find out whether or not the situation can be resolved. If we are unable to resolve the problem, our final option, in civil matters, is to turn to the Competition Tribunal, or, if it involves a criminal matter, we refer the file to the Attorney General who then decides whether or not to prosecute the company or companies.