Madam Speaker, I will address the content of the bill and the amendment in particular. The reason for the amendment is that I think there is a very strong ability on the part of the industry committee to deal with the bill in the context of the Competition Act that is law in Canada today. Therefore I will divide my analysis of the bill and the amendment pertaining thereto by distinguishing between mail and telemarketing.
The overriding concern, and I commend the hon. member for her work in this regard, is the preoccupation and the desire to protect consumers. I only wish that other members of the governing party would support and protect the taxpayers of Canada and would be as judicious in protecting the way taxpayer money is spent as the hon. member now wants the consumer to be protected from certain unscrupulous marketers.
I emphasize the fact this kind of thinking is very much in line in its outlook with both compassionate and humanitarian thinking. It is also very justice oriented in the sense that it brings to justice people who would take unfair advantage of unsuspecting people. In particular I draw attention to the provisions of the Competition Act which deal directly with the subject matter of the bill. I refer to subsection 52(1) of the Competition Act which is pertinent to this subject. It states:
No person shall, for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, the supply or use of a product or for the purpose promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest, by any means whatever, knowingly or recklessly make a representation to the public that is false or misleading in a material respect.
What is being addressed here is very clear. It is significant that we use the existing legislation to its maximum extent.
It goes beyond that. The hon. member made a point about telemarketing. The example she gave about seniors being the group that is very often targeted and very susceptible to being abused by reckless or sometimes unscrupulous marketers is very true. In this connection I will read into the record the provisions of the Competition Act dealing specifically with telemarketing. The pertinent subsection is 52.1(1) which states:
In this section, “telemarketing” means the practice of using interactive telephone communications for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, the supply or use of a product or for the purpose of promoting, directly or indirectly, any business interest.
One of the business interests is to get some kind of a benefit or a prize of some kind by using the telephone. First of all they send a card or something saying that they must phone in order to collect their prize or to get the product. Then they use the persuasiveness of the voice and the persuasiveness of their personality reflected in the voice to get them to part with their money.
The bill presented by the hon. member has a fine of $5,000 rising to a maximum of $20,000. The Competition Act is far more punishing than the bill. I suggest there is a good reason it should be referred to the industry committee and the bill be withdrawn in its present form. Subsection 52.1(9) states:
Any person who contravenes subsection (2) or (3) is guilty of an offence and liable
(a) on conviction on indictment, to a fine in the discretion of the court or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years, or to both; or
(b) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding $200,000 or to the imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.
People who take unfair advantage of older unsuspecting people should be punished rather severely. As a consequence of their illegal action I think they should be dealt with very severely, and I think the Competition Act does that.
While I think the bill is moving in the right direction, the amendment will do what the hon. member wants done more effectively, more efficiently and more readily. Therefore I encourage all parties of the House to get together and support the amendment.
The House should recognize that it began with the Liberal member acting as a private member supported by me and by a member of the NDP. We have a really good triumvirate going here.