Madam Speaker, I will take a few brief moments to rehash my thoughts on Motion No. 6 to amend Bill C-20 presented by the hon. member for Mercier.
This motion stands alone in Group No. 3 and, if supported, would expand the guidelines provided for telemarketers to include fraudulent claims regarding warranties and the overall performance and efficacy of a product.
My immediate concern is that this amendment would wrongly place the onus on the telemarketer to ensure that the manufacturer's product claims are accurate. While I strongly believe that telemarketers must act with due diligence in their relationship with manufacturers, the quality and efficacy of the product as supported by the manufacturer's claim should be the responsibility of the manufacturer. Furthermore, section 52 of the act, as amended by Bill C-20, is sufficiently broad so as to include false claims concerning warranties and the overall quality of products.
For these two reasons I would recommend that Motion No. 6 be opposed.
On a final note, it is not in the best interests of consumers to create legislation that will be unduly costly and cumbersome for business. My colleagues in the Reform Party have constantly argued that we need to try to create opportunities by putting less obstacles in the way of business. Being a small businessman, I know that the biggest obstacles which are usually faced are government red tape and bureaucracy. Let us look at ways to try to eliminate that and make it easier.
Motion No. 6 unfortunately goes down the road of putting obstacles in front of business. We need a balance between the protection of consumers and the freedom of business. As I mentioned earlier, I commend Industry Canada for this initiative. We are starting to see more of a direction toward eliminating bureaucracy and red tape for business. I wish that the government would follow that direction and that we would see more of this type of direction in legislation on other bills. We need to try to create more opportunities in our economy and we should all work together to try to do that.
As I mentioned, I believe it would be in the best interests of the House to oppose Motion No. 6.