Agriculture committee  Our reaction and the reaction of our members to the food guide has generally been a very positive one. As I've mentioned, our members supply consumers with what they're looking for. The tastes of consumers are constantly evolving, and what's represented in the food guide is a rep

Agriculture committee  Thank you for your question. Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head with regard to competitive pricing in a wide variety of products, making sure that consumers have access year round to innovative products at competitive prices. In terms of innovation at the production level

Agriculture committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for this opportunity to discuss with you the public's perception and confidence in the Canadian agricultural sector. I will make a brief presentation for the Retail Council of Canada, or the RCC. The retail industry is the larg

Industry committee  If I may, there could be intent and common sense amendments so that there's certainty in the lawful business environment, and so that the scant government resources that are there for compliance and enforcement are targeted where they should be.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Eglinski. Yes, it goes exactly to the point about intent and to how the penalties should be proportionate to intent. Going back to that example of the rural hardware stores, somebody who is really trying to comply and accidentally sent an email, or can't demonstra

Industry committee  I have something to add as well. I don't have the statistics in front of me.... It does not surprise me one bit that retailers are seeing more online sales, but to draw that specifically to legislation.... That's the way the world is moving. Our members are very competitive in th

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Masse, for the question. Our members' primary focus of concern is not as much around the botware and the malware and that sort of thing and those provisions; it's primarily around commercial electronic messaging. They're seeing a big flashing red light of the pos

Industry committee  I don't have figures in terms of the compliance costs. It obviously depends on the size of the business and what they're involved in, and every business is different. What I am hearing from the independent members is that it is very onerous. A lot of these are family-owned, famil

Industry committee  Thank you for the question. Yes, there are many tools out there, and by its very nature, technology is constantly changing. With anything we put into legislation now, within a year or two there will be other tools there to assist. Our members are easy to find. They have stores i

Industry committee  The answer to your question, Mr. Jowhari, is a resounding “yes”. If the committee were to make the five recommendations that the RCC has put forward, by default the enforcement, energies, and resources would target those areas where they should be targeting. In addition to that,

Industry committee  I'm hearing from a range of members. What I'm hearing from the larger members is that their legal counsel is being very risk-averse, and is advising them to interpret the law in a very strict way. They're avoiding marketing campaigns, and campaigns to recipients that are probably

Industry committee  All of them—grocers, hardware, and then large merchandisers. What I'm hearing from the smaller members, though, from the hardware stores in the rural areas that Mr. Eglinski mentioned, is how can we possibly have the clerks trained to document this stuff? Where do we even hire s

Industry committee  Yes. Thank you, Mr. Longfield. I'd like to think that the Retail Council and its members can offer a unique perspective on this, in that our members have the direct interface with the consumers. From what I'm hearing from the members, the consumers' knowledge of the actual legi

Industry committee  Thank you for the question, Mr. Baylis. I would give an answer similar to the one I would have given to your first question, and what I think is an excellent suggestion, which is to amend the provisions having to do with the administrative penalties and compliance and enforcemen

Industry committee  I would like to personally thank Andrew for that. Mr. Chair and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to talk about Canada's anti-spam legislation. I'll start by saying that members of the Retail Council are very supportive of anti-spam legislation that actua