Thank you.
I think it's an important reflection to just bring it back to whom this bill is about. This bill is about people. It's about people who are going to the grocery store and getting ripped off. It's about people who are paying cellphone bills and Internet fees that are among the highest in the world, and knowing that Canadians need some relief. This bill is about protecting people, protecting consumers and putting in stiffer penalties.
While I agree we've been able to push for amendments that have addressed a number of changes, including the ability of the Competition Bureau to investigate examples of anti-competitive behaviour, including stiffer penalties when there is anti-competitive behaviour, the piece that's missing is a piece that I spoke about. It is when we look at one of the most glaring examples of large corporations ripping off Canadians, it's when they colluded or worked together to jack up the price of bread. That is termed “price-fixing”. It could also be referred to as a "conspiracy". It's also referred to as "collusion". That behaviour, when large corporations work together to rip off Canadians, that specific area was not addressed by the Liberals. We had pushed for changes. Those changes were not accepted.
What we've included in my bill is addressing the specific matter that I pointed out—that in one of the most egregious examples of collusion, bread price-fixing, the highest penalty was $50 million on Canada Bread Company. That $50 million is barely a slap on the wrist for that corporation, given the total amount of revenue that all partners in that collusion were able to accrue. The amount that they ripped off Canadians was tallied at $5 billion.
What my bill does is provide guidelines to a judge that in a case as severe as that, here are some areas where they can go. They can go to 10% of the revenue of a company. You can go to triple the benefit they accrued. That is severe deterrence. Those are severe penalties that would deter these companies from ripping people off. That's the specific measure.
The other measure that I've included is in the case where a merger would result in 60% or more of a market share. In that case, it should be immediately banned.