Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank the witnesses, and you, Madam Chair, and the other committee members, for continuing this work. I appreciate it very much.
One of the things that struck me in the testimony we had, which was excellent, is that we rely on social media, including Facebook, to investigate and promote how to protect ourselves against fraud. However, recently Facebook was found guilty and paid a $9-million fine for misleading Canadians. In fact, it was said that it made “false or misleading claims about the privacy of Canadians' personal information.” Yet, we are spending tens of millions of dollars of government money to advertise on its platform.
I'll start with Mr. Marchand, because he may have a bit of perspective on the United States.
With regard to fraud from companies, Volkswagen had a U.S. settlement of $14.7 billion. In Canada, the Competition Bureau fined it $2.5 million. Equifax had a settlement of $600 million in the United States; Canada had a Competition Bureau fine of zero dollars. Most recently, Facebook had a $5-million fine in the United States, and in Canada, a $9.5-million fine.
I view the Competition Bureau, the Privacy Commissioner and the CRTC as important instruments in protecting Canadians from fraud. It seems that they might be a bit outdated with regard to their powers.
Can you comment as to whether there is a misalignment between our penalties in Canada and those in the United States that perhaps can create a problem for bringing accountability even with fraud by so-called corporate entities?