Industry committee  In that situation, that's clearly infringing on a legal product. The first time Canadian authorities would have the ability to stop it would be when it came into the country. We would not be in a position to stop manufacturing. The bill applies also to exports leaving Canada. Canada is not only an importer of counterfeit goods, there are exports happening as well, so that's where you're looking at the other causes of action.

Industry committee  Just to add something on that point, as the minister noted, there is a personal exemption that's very clear in the act, so an individual ordering a single item would not be stopped, could not be charged, under the act. However, if through an investigation the authorities became aware that there was, say, an exporter who was consistently sending counterfeit goods into Canada one package by one package, who was counterfeiting goods and sending them into Canada, albeit one package at a time, that could be a justification for a criminal investigation under the act.

Industry committee  Exactly. I was speaking about the exporter coming in, but if it's an individual, a consumer, who is consistently ordering over a period of time one package, one package, one package, the exact same principle would apply. It could tip from being a personal exemption under the act to being something of commercial scale.

Industry committee  Just to echo both the deputy and the minister, there is no intention to change the definition of “distinctiveness”. It was purely a modernization of the language. “Inherently capable of distinguishing” is viewed as a modern synonym for what the act says now is “distinctive”, which is that “a good is adapted so as to distinguish”.

Industry committee  The section basically says that the crown does not have liability if it fails to retain copies of works that are passing through the border. This is a discretionary authority that the government has at the border to stop infringing goods. They say that if they don't stop infringing goods and they move across the border, then there's no crown liability.

Finance committee  Specifically dealing with the definition of state-owned enterprises provided in the act, the Bill C-60 proposals to amend the ICA include the definition of state-owned enterprises. If we go back to December of last year, when the Prime Minister made the announcement around the two SOE transactions that were under review at that time, he provided a policy clarification around state-owned enterprises.

Industry committee  As a contrary to that, since the announcement happened in December, we have been very involved with our foreign economic consulates, including those in many of the Asian-Pacific countries in which there are state-owned enterprises. We have seen a steady attention and have continued to work with them to help explain the policy, including in the oil sands.

Industry committee  Going back to the budget 2010 changes, the act was changed at that time to provide the minister with more discretion in communicating his decisions under the act. The challenge of the circumstance is that the transactions are reviewed in the context of commercial confidentiality, and so he can make information public up to the point that he risks being injurious to the company, and then he's not permitted to do it.

Industry committee  My view is that the act is still overwhelmingly supportive of foreign investment in Canada. I think the record in the administration of the act shows that. The fact is that when the government made these announcements, it indicated very clearly that non-controlling acquisitions and investments by even state-owned enterprises were considered still to be positive.

Industry committee  I will answer that in two parts. First, I'd go back to liberalization. The fact is that there will be more private sector companies that would be available for sale or for foreign acquisition without a review process once the liberalization process is completed. Second, there's not a new restriction in place that says state-owned enterprises can't undertake investments in Canada.

Industry committee  Right. So you're asking if direct and indirect control—

Industry committee  Correct.

Industry committee  That's correct.

Industry committee  I'll answer the first point. SOE activity, basically, from an analytical perspective, as a result of the changes in the budget implementation bill, and the policy articulated in the fall, the government committed to monitor SOE activity in all sectors of the Canadian economy. We are working diligently now to undertake that analysis in support of the government.

Industry committee  You're correct, sir, only that they already are defined in the existing Investment Canada Act, so there's already a—