Madam Speaker, I am pleased to offer my support for Bill C-393 proposed by the member for Sarnia—Lambton. Negative option billing represents some of the worst corporate behaviour imaginable. By saying that implied consent should allow a company to change the general contractual agreement between a company and an individual we are chucking out a thousand years of common law, the part that says a deal is a deal.
Negative option billing negates one of the fundamental concepts which I have always fought for as a writer and as a legislator, which is that we should always safeguard the public's ability to exercise informed consent when dealing with the world.
I am proud to add that this practice has already been dealt with by the NDP government in British Columbia which amended its consumer legislation to ban negative option billing in that province.
The current bill proposes to amend not the Broadcasting Act, but rather the Competition Act to ensure that negative option billing is prohibited in all sectors under federal jurisdiction, not just those regulated by the CRTC. Banning negative option billing is a way of telling the providers of those federally regulated services that they should never see the public as a pool of cash to be dipped into whenever they need to boost profit margins.
Business should provide a service and if the public wants that service and they can afford it, they can agree to buy it. If a business wants to charge customers for a service it has to ask them first, ask them nicely and make the sale by convincing them that they need it or want it. It cannot change the rules in the middle of the game without permission. It is just not fair.
Sadly we are dealing with this as a result of the other place which sent back a bill just before the last election. As we know, elections are of no concern to the other place. The fact that this took place is a good example of why we need to abolish the other place. The House of Commons said that negative option billing should be banned. The Senate blocked our will. Canadians suffer. The cycle has to go and I believe the other place does too.
I well remember the public outrage in the winter of 1995 when the cable companies introduced new specialty channels and restructured their cable package lineups. I was offended that it was suggested by the companies that they needed this anti-consumer practice to support culture.
Canadian creators produce good work and people want it, so they agree to buy it. Shame on the cable companies for trying to hide behind artists while fleecing the public.
The CRTC allowed the practice in 1995 and this shows how out of touch the CRTC has been.
I support regulation and protection for Canadian culture in the broadcast and telecommunications industries by the CRTC. I support regulation and protection for Canadian culture in broadcasting and telecommunications, but it is evident that the CRTC abandoned its role as a protector of citizens, the consumers, when it allowed the cable companies to gouge Canadians through negative option billing.
This failure also hurt the cable industry. When the new channels were introduced in 1995 it was into a much more hostile environment than the channel originators probably deserved simply because people were so appalled at the negative option billing.
I am pleased to see the measure before us in this parliament and pleased that the member has seen fit to include other federally regulated industries in its scope. I agree with the hon. member that we are also seeing the phone companies and some of the banks testing the waters with these kinds of marketing schemes and it needs to stop now.
We must remember that most federally regulated industries are granted certain privileges to conduct business in a protected way in this country and they provide essential services to the economy and the people of Canada. In return for this privilege, which often means they are guaranteed certain levels of profit as well, they have a higher duty to conduct their business in an ethical way. In some cases, the cable industry for example, the profits are high.
I hope that with the change in focus to the Competition Act we will see the Department of Industry start taking a role in protecting consumers in Canada, not protecting corporate Canada. When I say this I am referring to recent failures of the department and the minister to protect cultural interests.
We have the loss of domestic control of large sections of the publishing industry, a trend apparently encouraged by cabinet. We have also seen unprecedented amounts of corporate concentration in television and other media, all with the applause of Industry Canada. I hope the passage of this bill will encourage a change in the overall implementation of the Competition Act so as to protect Canadian citizens and not just Conrad Black, Izzy Asper and members of the Business Council on National Issues.
I would like to go on record as supporting the previous concerns expressed by the member for Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre concerning the Competition Act. He expressed his longstanding criticism of the act's ability to deal with pricing in the retail gas market.
With the changing nature of the international economy and the simultaneous trends of increased mergers and acquisitions, but also the growing number of small businesses, we need a much more active competition policy in this country to ensure that the marketplace works well for consumers and for small business owners.
On Monday my leader and I attended a press conference with members of the small business community in Nova Scotia. They raised very grave concerns about the impact of Sobey's assuming control of 75% of the food wholesale market on the east coast. The takeover of Oshawa Group by Sobey's controlled Empire Ltd. would mean that small family restaurants and corner stores will become price takers from one food wholesaler. That will hurt them and it will hurt consumers.
It is a competition issue and it is a consumer issue. I think it is time we made a comprehensive examination of the whole area. As the member from Regina has said, we do not have one-tenth the amount of competition legislation they have in the United States. I am not saying necessarily that more is better but what we have now obviously is not enough. And it is not working for anybody.
To return to where I started this afternoon, I just wanted to indicate my support for the principle in the member's bill. I hope it receives wide support from the House once again, and is not again stalled by the unelected Senate.