Madam Speaker, I am pleased to participate in the debate on the amendment proposed by the Bloc to Bill C-276, an act to amend the Competition Act. It is a sad day for consumers in the province of Quebec because the member for Témiscamingue, as a member of the Bloc Quebecois, has proposed an amendment to exempt Quebec residents from the consumer protection measures contained in the bill. It is difficult to imagine why on earth we on this side would support such a cold hearted and callous proposal from the member opposite.
The bill would protect consumers from the deceptive marketing practice known as negative option billing which occurs when a company forces its customers to decline or opt out of new product or service offerings to avoid higher fees. This practice is a perversion of the traditional buyer-seller relationship. It relies on the concept of implied consent: if the buyer does not say no or register an objection with the seller or the vendor, he or she is deemed to have said yes and to have given consent to the purchase.
It is a rather sick way of doing business because it takes advantage of consumers from all walks of life whether they are young, poor, elderly or people on fixed incomes. With the proposed amendment the Bloc Quebecois would leave millions of consumers in the province of Quebec vulnerable to such marketing rip-offs.
I often have trouble following the twisted logic of the Bloc. In an attempt to humour our friends across the way, I will try to see how their amendment would benefit consumers who reside in Quebec or any place else in Canada, for that matter.
If we look closely at Bill C-276, as amended by the Standing Committee on Industry, we see that it has been improved. I would like to take the opportunity to thank and commend members of that committee for their hard work. In a four month period the committee heard testimony from 28 witnesses, including consumer organizations, industry groups, and officials from the government departments of finance, industry and Canadian heritage who appeared not once but twice before the committee.
The committee passed a number of amendments to bring Bill C-276 in line with recent changes to the Competition Act precipitated by the passage of what was called Bill C-20. Concerns over the viability of certain specialty television channels were addressed. A change was made to deal with the evolution of electronic commerce. Changes were made but the key elements of consumer protection have remained in this bill.
The bill still applies to federally regulated banks, telephone companies and cable companies. Here we see the irony of the Bloc's proposed amendment, the politicization of their proposed amendment. They would give a green light for federally regulated banks and others to essentially rip off consumers in the province of Quebec by way of negative option marketing. I am certain the Bloc's position has nothing whatsoever to do with their recent change of heart when it comes to accepting campaign donations from large corporations. I am sure this is simply a coincidence.
In any case, perhaps we should refer to what the experts who appeared before the committee have said. At the industry committee hearing on December 13, 1999 the head of the Quebec based consumer organization Action Réseau, Ms. Nathalie St-Pierre, was questioned by the member for Timiskaming. I will quote his question:
You are a watchdog organization involved in consumer protection in Quebec. At the present time, do companies under federal jurisdiction and subject to this bill comply voluntarily with the [Quebec] Consumer Protection Act?
Ms. St-Pierre in her reply stated “They do not comply with the Consumer Protection Act”.
In a letter to the CRTC dated October 8, 1999, Ms. St-Pierre exploded the myth that Quebec consumers do not object to negative option marketing. She referred to the 1997 launch of new specialty channels by the Quebec based company Vidéotron and I quote once again from her letter:
When the channels were launched, Quebec consumer groups, the Consumer Protection Bureau and Vidéotron all received numerous complaints, particularly about the marketing method used, which was negative option billing.
As the Bloc points out, Quebec's Consumer Protection Act prohibits negative option marketing. However, the Bloc does not say that it can only apply to areas of provincial jurisdiction. What they do not say is that their act specifically exempts federal jurisdiction. It in fact says it does not apply to cable.
I can only surmise that the member for Timiskaming has finally come to his senses on this jurisdictional question. Why else did he ask a Quebec based consumer group if federally regulated companies voluntarily comply with the provincial law? The fact is that the Bloc knows that the Quebec law does not, cannot, never has and never will apply to industries like banking, telephone or cable.
Why then do Bloc members stand in this place and demand a carve out, a big exculpatory clause for Quebec consumers? Why do they stand with the Canadian Bankers Association and others who like things just the way they are? No changes.
I do not know the answer to these questions, but I do see a ray of light over the Bloc members. It is the member for Portneuf, their official critic for Canadian heritage, who recently launched a public campaign against the distribution of a French language educational channel, TFO, which wanted to broadcast in the province of Quebec and was made in the province of Ontario. The member for Portneuf broke ranks with his pro-business colleagues and stood up for consumer rights and explained his views in a TFO interview which aired on October 28, 1999.
The member is going to try to shout this down, but I want him to hear what his colleague said. I quote:
Look, I have no objection if a Quebecer wants to subscribe to TFO. I have a problem with the CRTC, which is a federal organization, forcing all Quebecers who get cable to pay for TFO, whether they want it or not. That's wrong. That is not what I would call a free market practice.
If the—