Evidence of meeting #6 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was e-commerce.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Ted Hsu Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
When you go to the store you have pears from the U.S. or these clothes are made in such-and-such a country. Could we not do that online?
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications, Department of Industry
I don't see why industry associations cannot do that for themselves and for their members online or consumer groups that may be interested in steering interested parties toward Canadian products. I think it's also important to ensure there's sufficient competition to keep Canadian online service providers as agile as their competitors. Therefore I would be worried about setting up a little walled garden that people don't go to, because you also want to encourage people from other countries to buy Canadian.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Thank you very much, Madam McDonald and Mr. Hsu.
I'd like to give you an opportunity of six minutes each for any closing remarks.
I notice that Ms. Campbell is writing and she probably has some closing remarks.
Deputy Commissioner of Competition, Fair Business Practices Branch, Competition Bureau
I don't have any.
Conservative
Deputy Commissioner of Competition, Fair Business Practices Branch, Competition Bureau
Actually I had a few remarks to share with the committee, if you wish.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Okay. Why don't we begin with you and then we'll move to Ms. McDonald.
Deputy Commissioner of Competition, Fair Business Practices Branch, Competition Bureau
This is just something to capture a bit of the points we were making earlier.
As an enforcement agency we need to be where consumers and businesses are, and increasingly that's online and has an international reach. So it means that we need to work increasingly in collaboration with our international counterparts.
There are also many changes. The way in which people access the Internet is changing. It used to be via a search page, but increasingly it's through social media, which is supported by so-called free services. But we need to remember that most of these services are monetized by the exchange of personal information—that's how they're funded—which is sometimes subject to data breaches, as was raised earlier. So it raises very interesting questions from an advertising perspective, from a perspective of protecting consumers and businesses, as this trade and commerce happens online.
We're delighted to be here to answer any of the questions the committee has, and also we are happy to send you further information if any of what we've discussed piqued your interest.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Thank you very much, Madam Campbell.
We're now on to Ms. McDonald.
Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Spectrum, Information Technologies and Telecommunications, Department of Industry
We've very much appreciated this opportunity to come and particularly to hear your questions. We look forward to the final report.
There is a big difference between business-to-business commerce, business-to-consumer commerce, where a number of your concerns over protecting consumers come in, and consumer to consumer. That may be where the mobile payments start coming in, where, cellphone to cellphone, we can do lots of things that may be much more difficult for many of us to regulate. There may be a different type of issue that emerges there, so I just wanted to bring that to your attention.
We have a report on e-mobile commerce, on some of the emerging consumer issues, on our website, by the Office of Consumer Affairs at Industry Canada, and we would be happy to bring it to the attention of your clerk should you wish to look at it.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
That would be great. In both official languages it would be very good.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to say thank you very much. I was just listening to the broad spectrum of questions that you fielded today, and it was impressive. So I want to thank the witnesses on behalf of the committee.