Mr. Speaker, earlier today the member of Parliament for Ottawa Centre and five other citizens of Canada filed with the director of investigations and research a request, pursuant to section 9 of the Competition Act, for an inquiry into gas pricing in Canada.
Today the director has initiated a formal inquiry, pursuant to section 10 of the act in response to the section 9 request.
The member for Ottawa Centre and other members who have raised this issue deserve credit for taking some initiative in this and for filing the appropriate request for an inquiry. The director will investigate. If he finds evidence he will act accordingly.
I point out to the House that as recently as this January he was successful in obtaining a conviction under the Competition Act and a fine of $50,000 was levied against Mr. Gas here in Ottawa for the offence of price fixing.