Mr. Speaker, I listened to my colleague's speech with interest. I would like to quote, for his benefit, Konrad von Finckenstein, former Commissioner of Competition, who appeared before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology on May 5, 2003:
—while the Bureau's mandate includes the very important role of being an investigator and advocate for competition, the current legislation does not provide the Bureau with the authority to conduct an industry study.
I think it would be better for an overall examination of the situation to be conducted by an independent body with the authority to summon witnesses and gather information while protecting confidential information that no one wishes disclosed but that would be essential to a factual conclusion.
That was what the former competition commissioner said. Last fall, the current commissioner testified before the committee that the Competition Act must be strengthened and that the issue of a petroleum monitoring agency should be pursued.
Not one, but two competition commissioners have told us that the current legislation did not give them the authority or the mandate they needed to conduct a real study of the market. That said, does my colleague think that the status quo is acceptable? It seems clear to me that we are not making progress, which is bad for oil companies, consumers and all industries, especially the manufacturing sector.