Industry committee  I think we have a weak competition law. I've written about this extensively. It's difficult to bring a case forward. We win cases, but we don't win them often. We have trouble bringing cases forward. There is a huge disconnect with what everyday people seem to expect. I get these questions all the time from the media, from people, from people who want to learn, from policy colleagues: “Hey, I see this case happening internationally again in a big tech context, or digital context.

Industry committee  I'm happy to turn it to others as well. I'm sorry that I had to step away from my chair for a moment. The Competition Bureau actually put out, a few years ago, their guidance on people self-selecting or self-declaring against bid-rigging. There's research that I'll have to pull up, although I have papers all around me on my desk related to it.

Industry committee  Yes, I think it could act as a greater deterrent. We are speaking, again, concurrently about the penalties—the AMPs. We fundamentally want the law to deter poor behaviour. We want it to hopefully not happen in the first place, before we take action and bring cases forward.

Industry committee  In terms of points to elaborate on, I think we are observing the policy process in action. There is consensus, both that people want action on this and that it is overdue as a policy priority. We have heard from a range of stakeholders here today. It isn't about the “what”; it's about the “how”.

Industry committee  I believe it would have been helpful, yes. I find it difficult, personally, to rationalize to anyone, including myself, that there are instances in which wage-fixing works in favour of workers or consumers. I think we've seen that franchisees have an interest in being able to intervene in the labour market and that there is a stronger role for the state to play, whether through the Competition Act or, as was said earlier, through labour law, looking at the province.

Industry committee  I think the recent budget increases to the bureau were welcome. I think they have some great policy advice they've gone on the record with. There was a really phenomenal response from the bureau to Senator Wetston. If I can comment and contextualize about our bureau in an international context for the purposes of this discussion, our reputation abroad has seemed to factor prominently.

Industry committee  Thank you. In addition to my leadership role at McMaster University, I'm one of the country's most vocal advocates for competition reform. I've contributed in modest but meaningful ways to the policy attention to these questions through opinion editorials in The Globe and Mail, the National Post, research published by McGill University and commissioned by ISED, various podcast interviews, and my newsletter “Regs To Riches”.

Industry committee  It's Jack Bishop, and he's a Canadian from out east.

Industry committee  I note that Dana O'Born, the vice-president of strategy and advocacy for CCI, wasn't able to connect tech-wise, but she'll be back to this committee. I don't want to speak for her or them, but I would very quickly say that both Denise and I support policies that help support worker mobility.

Industry committee  It would be smart to do that, of course. The example of Internet in Canada is just like owning and operating a platform, because telecommunications compete both in terms of the infrastructure and also the layer on top. I'm not being articulate there. I'll turn to my colleagues for other comments.

Industry committee  In terms of replication, they may be. Again, this is why it's useful to think about the behaviour itself and the implications for businesses and consumers. It's unique in Canada. Earlier, one of your colleagues was asking about contextualizing Canada in that international context.

Industry committee  Sure, with AmazonBasics, it competes directly against third party products that are in its marketplace. Kudos to when something is labelled AmazonBasics. In other instances, where we see that kind of copycatting and replication, sometimes there's an overlay where there's a private label or it's a different company name, so it looks very distinct.

Industry committee  A lot of this echoes, again, what you saw and heard from that Vivic report and maybe some of what Robin touched on. Looking at the behaviours themselves, when we think about the activity of self-preferencing, that can harm competition because in that ecosystem, in that marketplace, even if a product has a better price and is arguably of better quality, it will constantly be demoted in search, in favour of a platform—again, the person owning or operating that—in favour of their products.

Industry committee  Right.

Industry committee  Again, until—and Denise, feel free to jump in—we bring a case forward in Canada, we can't refer to Canadian case law in competition. Currently, Canadian competition law may view this as an abuse of dominance. We might be able to enforce the act as it exists, but we haven't seen a case brought forward on this.