moved for leave to introduce Bill C-381, 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, it is a great honour for me to present and table this bill entitled Act to amend the Competition Act (protection of those who purchase products from vertically integrated suppliers who compete with them at retail).
The evolution of this bill follows the recognition that small business is the backbone of our economy and the recognition that there is certainly ample evidence of abuse of dominant predatory pricing going on in this country but we seem to have a lack therein or a shortage of legislative levers in order to address this reality, particularly in the oil industry.
This enactment will give a basis for the enforcement of fair pricing for a manufacturer who sells a product at retail, either directly or through an affiliate, and also supplies the product to a consumer who competes with the supplier at the retail level in order to give the customer a fair opportunity to make a similar profit.
As I indicated, other provinces, such as Quebec, are proposing the same bill in their jurisdiction. The text also states that a supplier forcing or trying to force a client to establish a retail pricing policy or a marketing policy for retail sales is guilty of anticompetitive practice.
(Motions agreed to, bill read the first time and printed.)