Madam Speaker, we are debating Bill C-20, an act to amend the Competition Act and to make consequent and related amendments to others acts.
There are four groups of amendments put forward by the hon. member for Mercier. We already debated two groups of amendments and in the third group of amendments we are talking about various aspects of businesses, as the hon. member for Skeena has said.
In the third group, Motion No. 6 would include a prohibition against offering a statement or a warranty or a guarantee for performance or efficacy or the life of the product without adequate and proper tests thereof.
This amendment would wrongly place the onus on the telemarketer to ensure that the claims by manufacturers or service providers are accurate. Telemarketers must act with due diligence in their relationship with the manufacturer or the service provider regarding the quality and efficacy of the product or service as claimed by the manufacturer.
So it should be the responsibility of the manufacturer and not that of the telemarketer. The legal framework in the bill offers enforceable guidelines for professional conduct among telemarketers. Furthermore section 52 of the act, as amended by Bill C-20, is reasonably broad. It is sufficiently broad so as to include false claims concerning the warranty.
As the hon. member for Skeena has mentioned, we are talking about businesses. On the other side we are talking about consumers. The official opposition supports small businesses. We understand that small businesses need more opportunities because they are the ones that create 96% of the jobs in the country. But we know the red tape is too much for them. Government is always on the back of small businesses. The cost of doing business in this country is going up. Taxes are going up.
We have to create a balance between the protection of the consumer and freedom of business. It is not in the best interest of consumers to create legislation that will be unduly costly, cumbersome for business and not be hurting the fraudulent businesses.
I will be supporting Bill C-20 but opposing Motion No. 6 because senior citizens, the most vulnerable in our society, are damaged more and more by fraudulent telemarketing scams. We have to protect them immediately against telemarketing fraud.