Industry committee  Yes.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is our association's pleasure to be able to join you today and talk about e-commerce in Canada, given the key role the retail sector plays in this area. We hope that our presentation, our comments and our recommendations will be positively received.

Industry committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I didn't realize our presentation was a showstopper, but I'm pleased to see that it was.

Industry committee  To assist the committee, we tried to provide you with an overview of e-commerce retail sales in Canada and the kinds of investments retailers are making in this space, specifically on the web, in social media, and in mobile technology. I'm not going to go through every page, but hopefully, when you have a moment, the information included will give you a very good sense of what the sector is doing.

Industry committee  No problem.

Finance committee  Well, there is anecdotal evidence. I think we're also here to applaud the fact that there are regulations that will allow the minister to in fact regulate the payment system. What we're saying is that this may have to happen sooner versus later.

Finance committee  We work on our presentations every day, sir.

Finance committee  Yes, indeed. Thank you very much for the question. I'd like to make a short comment. First, I'm going to speak in French. Out of respect for the chair and virtually all members of this committee, we are still presenting a brief in French and English. It is important to note that we were invited four days ago, but that a number of other issues unfortunately represent a very big priority.

Finance committee  Before May 17. And I suspect that all of you, the members around the table, have noticed there's been an increase in advertising for these credit cards, and quite a bit of advertising encouraging consumers to move the purchases they would usually make via debit to credit. But most importantly in relation to the code, we have been told by our members that they've been under a lot of pressure to sign.

Finance committee  Mr. Menzies, I would have to agree with you.

Finance committee  Thank you for that comment. I think what I would say was fairly clear in our speaking notes. The minister has introduced a code of conduct and, as Mr. Menzies said, it's voluntary until it becomes involuntary.

Finance committee  In fact, we have started receiving.... We heard rumours that MasterCard was going to introduce a super premium card. We thought it was a joke. However, we have received e-mails from some of our merchants, specifically in Quebec and British Columbia, for whatever reason, telling us that they had been approached by their acquirers confirming that this card would be in the market this year We were told that it would be by the end of the year, but now our merchants are telling us that they're seeing it on their transactions, on their statements.

Finance committee  I think you make a very good point. As you know, there's no question that all of us enjoy accumulating our points and using our points. But I think we need to understand that if I go in with a card that is that expensive because I'm accumulating points, David and Terrance, who are not using that card, are in fact paying for the privilege of my using that card.

Finance committee  Will we be out of the woods with the passage of Bill C-9? If only it were that straightforward.... I stood at Minister Flaherty's side when he announced the code of conduct, because our members believe the code will go a long way towards providing greater cost certainty. I did so in the full expectation that the code is but the first step and that ultimately regulation will be required.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's a privilege to appear before this committee today. My name is Diane Brisebois. I'm president and CEO of the Retail Council of Canada.