Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on Bill C-216 and specifically to address the motions put to this House by the hon. member for Richmond-Wolfe and the hon. member for Sarnia-Lambton who is the sponsoring member.
The hon. member for Richmond-Wolfe has introduced a motion which would defeat Bill C-216. I cannot in good conscience support this motion.
I was pleased to speak in support of Bill C-216 in the House on April 26 of this year. Those of us who have supported this legislation from the beginning are very pleased with the progress it has made. It is a testament to the quality of this legislation that it has made it this far.
My comments during that first debate focused on consumer rights. I argued that this legislation is in the best interest of Canadian consumers.
As members of Parliament, I believe it is our duty to protect those interests. Often when our constituents call us they forget that before we were elected and again after we are finished we were consumers, we are consumers, we are taxpayers and we will continue to be. It is not an issue that we are devoid and separated from. We do know what their concerns are.
Since the bill was originally introduced a great deal of activity has apparently occurred behind the scenes. If we are to believe newspaper reports, lobbyists have been very active turning this matter into a linguistic issue. Rather than focus on the only issue at hand, the issue of consumer rights, lobbyists have focused the attention of members on a divisive national unity question.
I wonder why they did not raise the same concern when cable operators publicly stated that they will no longer employ negative option billing practices. I wonder why they did not raise their voices when the government rejected the idea of a cable tax to support the CBC, the CBC which was created to be the main instrument to unite Canadians from coast to coast to coast and to keep Canadian culture distinct in North America.
The argument that the demise of negative option billing will have a negative impact on French language programming simply does not make sense. The best way to ensure demand for television services in both official languages is to ensure audiences in both official languages.
Burgeoning second language immersion programs across Canada are a testament to the growing number of bilingual Canadians. These Canadians will be able to enjoy and therefore demand quality entertainment in both official languages. That is the best way to safeguard demand for programming in both official languages.
There is only one issue at the heart of this legislation: consumer rights. Do Canadian consumers have the right to be asked whether they want a product before being charged for it? Do they have the right to choose how they spend their entertainment dollars? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Canadian consumers have the right to choose whether they want a product before paying for it. This is just common sense. If we were dealing with any other industry other than the cable industry, it would not even be an issue. I do not understand why we choose to treat powerful cable operators with kid gloves. Canadians are telling us we have to stop.
I received many calls from my constituents this weekend urging me to support this legislation. In fact my voice mail kept filling up. I returned every call that I received and there was not one call in support of stopping this bill. There is no doubt that my constituents support this legislation. Let there be no doubt in their minds that I am listening and will vote in their best interests. I would urge all of my colleagues to do the same.
It has been said, for those who argue in favour of government, that without government we are merely consumers. In this era of deregulation and government downsizing, it is important that we establish a regulatory framework which is consumer oriented. The passage of this bill would represent a giant leap in this direction.
Certainly, cable operators have taken measures to encourage cable subscription from Canadians, as they should because they are in the business of making money. The various subscription packages available to consumers and the advent of direct payment schemes have proven successful for these operators. Direct payment in particular is a very powerful tool when combined with negative option billing because it gives cable operators direct access to automatic payment from Canadians.
When the cable companies implemented negative option billing a year and a half ago in Ontario, had my constituents not been concerned about this and had my constituents not called me, I probably would not have even realized that I was being billed for a service which I really did not want. Many of us do not even really know how much our cable bill is because we have so many other things that we are dealing with now. That means the cable company had the right to take money from my account even without my knowledge. Depending on one's income bracket, maybe $3 a month is not a lot, but if we add it up across the country, that is $25 million a year taken from the pockets of Canadians without their consent.
Just as cable companies will make every effort to maximize their profits, we as members of Parliament must make every effort to balance the playing field so that consumer interests are protected.
The activities which have apparently occurred behind the scenes raise another issue: the relationship between elected officials and their constituents and that between elected officials and lobbyists. We made a red book commitment to consult with our constituents, not to consult with lobbyists. I say to all hon. members that we must honour this commitment.
The cable companies in my area have been very good to me. They have given me good programming. They have helped me to pass my message on to my constituents. However, if my message to my constituents is that in order to get this hour every two weeks to communicate with them that I have to give in to the wishes of lobbyists, I am not sure that is the message I want to communicate.
I would like to make a comment to the hon. member across the floor who spoke before me. We know who is who in the Liberal Party. Our constituents are who is who in the Liberal Party. We do not need lectures on backbenchers standing up and taking a stand. We do stand up and take a stand. We will continue to take a stand. I could perhaps suggest that the hon. members on the other side of the floor should have followed their own advice when it came to the gun legislation when they took polls in their own ridings.