Mr. Speaker, the bill before us is of vital importance to consumers. It is a bill designed to ensure that the consumer will not be billed for something he does not wish to buy.
A few months back, we saw a cable company bill its consumers for the cost of television channels they had not requested. The consumers were told by this company that they should have warned it that they did not wished to be billed for something they had not ordered. Thank goodness the food chains do not operate like this, because an order of groceries would start to get rather expensive.
The attitude of this cable company was unacceptable. Pressure from outraged consumers forced the company to reverse its position. This was an excellent thing. We do not ever want to see such a situation again, either in the provision of cable service or of any other service.
At the same time, we must ensure that if legislation is necessary in this area, that it be passed by the right legislature. The question that quite naturally arises is this: Is the House of Commons, the Parliament of Canada, the federal government the institution which has the responsibility with respect to consumer affairs for resolving this type of problem?
The proposer, the hon. member for Sarnia-Lambton, maintains that because telecommunications comes under federal responsibility, it therefore follows that consumption of a product whose production and distribution are federally regulated should be treated likewise and also come under federal responsibility.
If that were the case, the federal government could put up buildings in any municipality in this country with no regard for zoning bylaws. If so, federal government employees would no longer have to pay provincial income tax, or municipal property taxes.
The lines need to be drawn where they are, where they have to be. In this instance, no one is disputing the fact that broadcasting and telecommunications are matters of federal jurisdiction. Unfortunately, this question was decided some years ago, when Quebec had the rights it had hitherto assumed in the area of communications taken away from it. This, unfortunately, is now just water under the bridge.
Is Quebec now also going to be deprived, along with all of the other provinces, of its right to pass consumer legislation? A few months ago in this House, I had the opportunity to question the Minister of Industry specifically on broadcasting and consumer protection. The minister told me in this House that this was a provincial matter. If the minister says so, I have difficulty understanding that a member of his government is not taking his minister's word for it.
However, I clearly understood the hon. member for Sarnia-Lambton to have said:
"If Quebec has already solved this question for its consumers, why should this House be prevented to do the same for the rest of Canada?"
In other words, why could this House not look after the rest of Canada, since Quebec can look after itself. I appreciate the clairvoyance of my colleague from Sarnia-Lambton, but he may have jumped the gun by a few months or years. Quebec is still part of Canada.
Yet, if he were prepared to amend his proposal so that it applied only to the rest of Canada, specifically excluding Quebec, thus acknowledging and confirming this jurisdiction which it has under the Constitution, perhaps I could find some sympathy for such an amendment.
I would like to draw your attention to another comment that was made in this House. Earlier, the hon. member for St. Boniface said that a company that practiced negative option billing in a province where this was banned under the laws of that province would probably, since it was operating in an area under provincial jurisdiction, be able to get around this ban.
When I hear members of this House claim that a federally-regulated company operating in an area under federal jurisdiction would be able to flout the laws of a province and probably get away with it, I say there is something wrong with the system.
If the hon. member said that the Constitution and the law should be enforced in such a way that provincial jurisdictions are respected, that would be a responsible thing for a member of this House to say. But to claim that, since the laws of a province could be flouted, the federal government should interfere in an area under provincial jurisdiction, is irresponsible in the extreme.
Unfortunately, I have to say it is merely one example of the lack of responsibility and sometimes irresponsibility shown by the federal government in its dealings with the provinces. I will not go into the problems of health insurance which are a source of frustration for a number of western provinces. I will not go into the fact that some members opposite support certain things that were done during the last referendum, in violation of provincial laws. I will not go into the fact that, through its spending power, the federal government consistently trespasses on provincial jurisdictions. If I did, I would be here all day.
To conclude my comments, the intentions of the hon. member for Sarnia-Lambton are praiseworthy. The consumer must be protected. -I am one myself-, but we should go to the legislatures that have the authority to do so, and I am referring to provincial legislatures. I can assure you that in Quebec, since I am a Quebecer, I will make sure that the consumer gets all the protection to which he is entitled. Since Quebec has already taken action in this respect, I would urge the other provinces to follow Quebec's example, instead of urging this government to compensate for the inertia of the other provinces.