moved for leave to introduce Bill C-235, an act to amend the Competition Act (protection of those who purchase products from vertically integrated suppliers who compete with them at retail).
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the hon. member for Oak Ridges for seconding this bill. Members will know that I introduced the very same bill in the last Parliament. Unfortunately it died on the order paper. It is a bill that is both timely and necessary in terms of ensuring for consumers in this country that we actually have a fair, competitive and healthy market in terms of gas pricing.
It is very clear that with what transpired this summer and the routine fleecing of consumers at the pumps there is need for protection, particularly for the independent suppliers of product who frequently face reductions in the margins at which they operate at the retail level.
This enactment will give the basis for the enforcement of fair pricing between the manufacturer who sells the product at retail, either directly or through an affiliate, and also supplies the product to a customer who competes with the supplier at the retail level in order to give the customer a fair opportunity to make a similar profit.
In effect it changes two sections of the Competition Act, section 50 dealing with predatory pricing and section 78 dealing with abuse of dominance.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)