Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I have been on the industry committee for many years. He always puts forward a very principled case in any argument and, whether I agree or disagree, the arguments are always well thought out.
He is right to acknowledge what others have done in terms of the Competition Act. In fact, my view, having been here in Parliament since 2002, is that the Competition Bureau is generally treated as a secondary feature or something that does not have the proper standing it should. I would say that underfunding is one of the issues.
Second to that, there needs to be an updating of penalties. Penalties are important, and not only to the people who are being fleeced or taken advantage of, whether it be in the gasoline industry or others. The drug industry has had cases of this as well. There are actually repercussions to this because other companies are affected as well. When other companies are affected by improper enforcement of competition, it affects employment, it affects business practices and it puts people who are doing the right thing at a disadvantage.