Thank you, Madam Chair.
I thank our witnesses for being here.
As NDP critic for consumer issues for a number of years, I want to thank the Competition Bureau, the women and men who have ably served our country for a long time. In fact, I've been calling for reformation of the Competition Act. Quite frankly, it's time we took the training wheels off and provided more empowerment. Corporations have often treated Canada as a colony with regard to the treatment of Canadian consumers and competition. When you compare, even the United States....
I had a private member's bill back in 2009 that went through the House of Commons. It was supported and actually went through this committee. It resulted in a voluntary agreement for the automotive aftermarket. The problem we have is that the voluntary agreement is now being abused. Has there been any investigation with regard to the complexity? The voluntary agreement for that particular issue was on the right for cars to be fixed and repaired in the aftermarket. It didn't include a digital chapter. I'm just wondering if you could indicate whether there's been any work or investigation with regard to that part of the bill.
Just so other members know, what was happening was that the United States was allowed to get aftermarket fixes to their vehicles, equipment, software and a series of different things that were denied in Canada. Ironically, in Windsor you could get your van in the aftermarket fixed over in Detroit, but you couldn't get it fixed over here in Windsor because the companies wouldn't provide that information. It resulted in a voluntary agreement.
I'm curious to know the state of that situation right now.