Industry committee  Thank you.

Industry committee  I'll turn to Jason in a moment, but I'd start by saying that these repairs are legal today. There are very limited circumstances under which the warranty would be void. The piece of legislation before us today is, in our view, to ensure that digital locks are not used as a new way to start blocking the access that is legal and, as we heard our friends here in the industry say, that has been available for 15 years.

Industry committee  You ask very interesting questions. We have not spent a lot of time thinking about this. My initial reaction would be that I do not think we're concerned about programmed obsolescence. I think it's in the automakers' interest, as well, to keep that software as up to date as they can.

Industry committee  I would say, of course, it's getting the access to the software to keep them up to date in this situation.

Industry committee  Oh, okay. Well, I can take a kick at that one, then. No, we were scratching our heads at the back of the room, I have to say, when that came up. It's not something that's come across our radar, I must admit. We will inform ourselves further on it, but I think we would have heard more about that if it were a big issue.

Industry committee  We think that's over-complicating this piece of legislation. Access is not only allowed but, according to the CVMA itself, encouraged these days, under CASIS. It's not an issue today. This would not alter in any way what's available today. This is about repairability. As our colleagues from the aftermarket on the previous panel also said, this is not about an interest in any of the other data that's involved; it's about being able to repair vehicles in 10 years from now the same way they can be repaired today, and in the way they were able to be repaired 10, 20, and 50 years ago.

Industry committee  Absolutely. It was not just members, I might add. We have 6.8 million members, but when we do polling, we poll all Canadians. We ask them whether they are members so we know what the difference is, if there is one, but there isn't on this issue. Over two-thirds of Canadians support the right of the independent repair industry, through garages, to have access to that software.

Industry committee  Yes, and my colleague Jason can speak more to this. He is, for his sins, on a quarterly call at 6 a.m. so we can all be awake at the same time—the Australians, the Europeans, us and so on. We talk regularly about this issue and we do monitor the international situation. From our perspective at least, I think it's fair to say that internationally, the auto industry tends to line up to slow down any access to data.

Industry committee  Have we presented any amendments? No. Are we happy with the law as written? Yes. Do we acknowledge that there could be some legitimate exemptions—like maybe from our colleagues here—that should be considered? Sure. I'm not an expert in medical technology, so I wouldn't try to speak for them.

Industry committee  We share that concern, absolutely. That's why we support this legislation. We think it would be, in terms of our industry, a small step forward in making sure that we don't end up in that huis clos of having to go to a dealer that is maybe 200 or 400 kilometres away, depending on the vehicle you've purchased.

Industry committee  Actually, Mr. Chair, it will be me, Ian Jack, who will be speaking first. Hello, everyone. Mr. Chair, honourable members, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to speak about this topic. As noted, my name is Ian Jack, and I am VP of public affairs. With me is Jason Kerr, our managing director of government relations.

Transport committee  I agree with Mr. Lukács. We have to deal with both of these things. We do have negotiations under way with the carriers to ensure that their policies on financial needs allow them to carry on. We need to get consumer confidence back up. A number of us have observed that there are economic, cultural and social benefits from having a viable airline industry in this country.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, thank you. Do you mean additional conditions on the refunds or on the carriers?

Transport committee  Thank you for the clarification. I appreciate it. Just today we had one of the carriers announce that they're pulling out of a couple of small markets. Perhaps that's part of their negotiating strategy right now—I'm not sure. If I were a member of the committee, if I were the government, I would want to make sure that the service is restored, that there are guarantees for minimal service across this country.

Transport committee  There are several jurisdictions around the world that have fairly clear black and white language. None of them are perfect. The U.S. law applies to domestic flights, not international flights. It doesn't cover everyone. There's no reason we can't simply right this in Canada. I think Mr.