I see this bill as being a very important but incremental step towards the right to repair in Canada. As I mentioned, repair is impeded by a number of factors. Law is only one, and within that, TPMs are just one small slice. We have design choices that thwart repair. We have various business strategies. We have asymmetries in terms of not being able to access materials and information. We have social factors that are involved.
I would like to see, in an ideal world, a comprehensive approach to the right to repair. This would include intellectual property laws. It would include TPMs—this bill—but it would also include important changes in other areas, including competition and things like warranties.
Earlier a question was raised around whether we can create a code of durability, which I think was a really nice way to frame the question. That might come up in a situation with regard to warranty. Warranties are the promises that manufacturers or businesses make to consumers to give them confidence in their purchases. Right now, warranties are very thin. They include only the bare minimum. There's no reason that a warranty couldn't include such information as the anticipated time before the product breaks and needs to be repaired, or what the anticipated costs of those repairs might be, or how many claims are being made on a product. These bits of information would empower consumers.
This is the kind of comprehensive repair framework that I would like to see enacted in Canada.