Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, it is a great pleasure, as I mentioned, to speak to this bill, which came from the other place. This bill is a significant set of amendments to our weights and measurement system. It is a set of amendments that really looks to modernize our trade instrumentation, which is so important to the smooth functioning of our economy, the information of consumers and the clarity and transparency needed by businesses and consumers alike. This brings to mind my first experience of this as a worker in the weights and measures system. I was a new arrival in London, England, on a working visa and chose to find employment, as many people do. I got a job at a cheese shop called Bloomsbury Cheeses in London, England. The first act of work in any retail business that involves a deli with meat or cheese of any kind is to put the cheese on the scale. I remember putting that cheese on the scale, whether it was Cornish yarg, a nice Stilton or a Lancashire. In the English context, people love their cheeses and they love their English cheeses. I would engage with customers. The customers would look at what was provided, what the weight of the item was and how much it cost. We used to put a little piece of wax paper under the cheese to make sure the cheese was not contaminating the scale and vice versa. I remember one customer asking me, “Well, what's the weight of that wax paper? Are you charging me for the wax paper and not just the cheese?” I did not have a good response for that customer. Perhaps it was a good sign that retail was neither my forte nor the sector I should be in. I was soon dismissed by both the customer and Bloomsbury Cheeses. However, that was a good reminder of the trust that is needed in this sector. It is also a good reminder and a good opportunity to mention two of the very finest cheese shops in my riding of Taiaiako'n—Parkdale—High Park, the Cheese Boutique, a legendary cheese shop on Ripley Avenue, as well as the Thin Blue Line in my neighbourhood of Roncesvalles on Roncesvalles Avenue. This work of weights and measures is really related to trust, especially when we are amending a piece of legislation like this, which is related to an organization that goes back to the 1870s. In fact, weights and measures are in the Canadian Constitution. Section 91.17 of the BNA Act, now the Constitution Act, puts the responsibility for weights and measures solely in the federal eye. In 1873, we had the first Weights and Measures Act of Parliament. That set up the system for the kind of work that is done to help the economy operate in a smooth way and in a very important way. Of course, we may remember the most recent major amendment that was done before the set of amendments we are talking about now, which was the 1971 set of amendments to the Weights and Measures Act, which very crucially, and I think to the ultimate satisfaction of most Canadians, recognized the use of the metric system in Canada. It also required metric measurements on most product labels. Some of us may have lived through those times and remember the kinds of measurements, the kinds of things that were provided in that era, or we may have parents or grandparents who lived through those times. Canadians embraced the metric system. It it not just for athletic measurement. It is for all kinds of measurement. The U.S. remains a bit of an outlier, although in the trade system we will notice that the Americans, in fact, do adopt the metric system. This is about trust. This is about the trust of the tools and the information that is provided in this very key part of the goods-facing economy. Measurement Canada, is a significant organization of 320 hard-working Canadians from coast to coast to coast, with offices in many communities in our country. Measurement Canada, which used to be called weights and measures Canada, is probably best known by Canadians for those labels on the consumer gas pumps, which we have been visiting. Each of those visits is a bit more painful of late since the war in the Middle East. I am very glad that our government has brought forward measures to bring real excise tax relief in this challenging moment for Canada, and Canadians are seeing the benefits of that. We will see Measurements Canada's work on those consumer gas pumps, but its work spreads far more widely. It touches a number of sectors. It touches energy sectors. It touches export-oriented sectors. This piece of legislation is a very important piece of work that does a couple things. I will just read from the summary of the bill. It is important to outline what we are talking about here in this bill from the other place. It states: This [bill] amends the Weights and Measures Act to, among other things, clarify existing powers, duties and functions of the Minister of Industry and inspectors, provide the Minister with certain powers, including with respect to sampling when devices are examined and with respect to corrective and preventive measures, and provide inspectors with certain powers. It also amends the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act to, among other things, broaden the definition of “meter”, provide the president [of Measurement Canada] with the authority to grant certain exemptions, clarify the steps required to put a device into service, clarify existing powers, duties and functions of the Minister and inspectors, provide the Minister with certain powers, including with respect to sampling when meters are examined and with respect to corrective and preventive measures, and provide inspectors with certain powers. This is a significant modernization of this piece of legislation, which again has not been looked at in a major way since the era of digital measurement, the era of, in fact, our metric system. It takes place in the context of the major 1971 modernization. There was a whole lot of infrastructure and a whole lot of process necessary to prepare Canadians for the conversion to metric. Canada's History magazine writes: Chaired by former Canadian Pacific Railway executive Stevenson Gossage, [there was a Metric Commission, which] oversaw more than 100 sector committees that monitored and prepared conversion plans for a wide range of interests and industries. There were problems figuring out which sectors should convert fully and which, especially industries reliant on American materials, should take it slowly. Again, we have this system of weights and measures, which is really the lifeblood of the economy, that is supporting sectors far and wide in the energy space, in the consumer product space, in the retail space and beyond. Why do we need this modernization? Why are we bringing this piece of legislation forward today? Conversations about modernizing this act and the other acts started before the COVID era. The hard work to accelerate this work really started in 2023 with Measurement Canada, with 320 hard‑working public servants from coast to coast working on this on the front lines at the gas stations, examining hundreds of devices a year. I just want to pause and give a tribute to the work of Measurement Canada and its workers. On an annual basis, Measurement Canada calibrates and certifies approximately 1,529 standards of mass, volume, temperature, electricity and gas, as well as tests equipment to certify measuring devices. We measure things and we need to test the things themselves that do the measurement. On an annual basis, Measurement Canada evaluates and approves around 300 new prototype measuring devices and the technology for use in trade in Canada. Each organization audits and oversees more than 230 authorized service providers and 700 registered technicians to inspect and certify approximately 95% of measuring devices used in trade on its behalf, including all those gas pumps and all these measuring devices in the trucking sector, in the goods movement sector and in the consumer movement sector for all kinds of goods. Obviously, there is a key relationship here with our exports and the need not only to diversify our exports but also to protect ourselves from the tariffs that we are being faced with right now. Measurement Canada is at the centre of all this work, and it is really important to point out and to celebrate the hard‑working men and women who do this work on the front lines. These are frontline workers who are doing this work as part of a broader sector of weights and measures and technical professionals. There is a relationship, obviously, to the standards sector. Why are we doing this now? What is the cause? The reality is that devices today have capabilities that were not possible decades ago. They are not strictly mechanical or a very simple digital interface. I referred to that scale at Bloomsbury Cheeses, from my short‑lived time as a cheese retailer. There is now lots more sophistication. Scales now include sensors and lasers. Devices have software updates that happen instantly. Smart communities transmit data about electricity and natural gas use in milliseconds. The context of all this is trust. When someone receives a bill for a consumer product that involves some sort of weight or measurement, they want to know that the measurement is correct. In this increasingly digitally connected era, Canadians are somewhat removed. Some of the benefits of this technology are that it allows this work to happen instantaneously, or practically instantaneously, and remotely. Canadians have an expectation that the inputs into the decisions that are informing how much they are paying for any consumer product, whether at the pumps, in their homes or elsewhere, is reliable. I think it is really important to have a trusted institution like Measurement Canada at the centre of this work. The good news is this is not just about regulation and the kinds of changes that we need to make to keep up with the changing digital technologies. This is also about the potential benefit to Canada from the innovation in this sector of measurement, digital measurement in particular. The reforms that we are bringing about here would increase competitiveness. Temporary permissions, for instance, would encourage innovation and allow industry to test out new devices in the marketplace under specific conditions, instead of waiting to be fully evaluated and approved. We hear from our innovators constantly that they want to get their device or product out into the market. They want to have a controlled setting. They want to have regulatory sandboxes or other places where there is equipment to show that their product is available, often Canadian products and digital products, and then find a market for that. If we do that here in Canada through this amendment to the legislation, then we will have created a test bed, a set of experiences for these digital product innovators in particular, as well as other innovators, to then take their market experience, take the effective endorsement that might result from their deployment in the marketplace in this new accelerated way, and then look to export. Another reform we are bringing is to bring in the flexibility to reduce the regulatory burden, which we know takes place in a variety of sectors. This set of legislative amendments is part of an attempt to reduce the regulatory burden in the measurement sector, which touches pretty much all goods-servicing sectors. It is also fiscally prudent. We know that when these devices come on board, they come on board in batches and bulk. If we require inspection of every single device, that is an undue burden. If we can inspect a sampling of the devices and ensure that the manufacturing processes of all devices being produced under that line meet a certain quality, then maybe we do not need as much of a burden on inspecting every single device, taking a risk-based approach to inspection work. The proposed amendments would allow inspectors to inspect thousands of devices of the same type using any means, including statistical sampling, to align the acts and increase the overall efficiency of the agency's operations. There is a competitiveness to industry with a bill like this. There is also quite a bit of efficiency that can be enabled with this work. I think this kind of legislation is a very interesting window into the full continuum of transportation- and energy-related sectors. We sometimes hear from the other side a celebration only for conventional energy. On this side, we have taken a more well-rounded position that we can have both conventional and clean electricity, and clean energy generated. A fun fact about Measurement Canada is that it was one of the first, or perhaps the first, federal government agency to acquire electrically powered trucks in its fleet. Measurement Canada is on the front line of acquiring an asset that is both good for the planet and good for the pocketbook, but is also on the front line of the work that it is doing. I recently announced on behalf of my colleague, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, significant funding toward electric vehicle charging infrastructure across Canada. Canadians know that we are coming out with an electric vehicle charging infrastructure strategy, as well as a national electricity strategy. These technologies and this work of bringing the electric vehicle experience to as many Canadians as possible requires standards and it requires a different form of measurement. I was at the EV & Charging Expo in Toronto a few weeks ago, making that announcement on behalf of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. The number of companies that are popping up with digital solutions to our electric vehicle charging demands, needs and potential is truly impressive. Through the amendments to the legislation I am talking about today, we would have the opportunity to catalyze an economy that is coming into being and is ready to do its part for Canadians and to help create new companies on behalf of Canadians. I have some other facts about Measurement Canada and where it is engaging. I mentioned the electricity sector. The Canadian Gas Association has shown its support for this legislation in its comments when it went through the other place. Electricity and natural gas utilities and other energy suppliers are keenly interested in the legislation, as are other agencies and departments like the Canadian Grain Commission, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Transport Canada and Natural Resources Canada. I am looking across the aisle. I know that some of my friends across the aisle represent some of these communities. Measurement Canada has offices in Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, London, Stoney Creek, Mississauga, Markham, Belleville, Ottawa, where the laboratories and headquarters of Measurement Canada also exist, Montreal, Quebec, Moncton, Dartmouth and St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. The work is resource-, travel- and labour-intensive. It depends on specialized, purpose-built test equipment and it continues to expand into new areas, as I mentioned, not only electric vehicle charging but also clean fuels and even things like the automation of measurement-based financial transactions. This is really important public service work and it is all in the context of trust. If Canadians can trust the inputs into their economic decisions, they are more likely to trust the outputs. I think this piece of legislation plays a very important role in doing that. I am going to say a few words in French about the changes outlined in Bill S-3, an act to amend the Weights and Measures Act, the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act, the Weights and Measures Regulations and the Electricity and Gas Inspection Regulations. The purpose of this bill is to modernize laws that have not been amended for more than 50 years. The last significant change was when Canada adopted the metric system, the International System of Units. That was over 50 years ago. Our system now is more digital and automated. Workers at this thriving organization that serves the public need tools to keep up with changes in the weights and measures system. In my opinion, this bill, which amends several acts, gives the government and the private sector the tools they need to bring business innovations to market and make business services more positive for Canadians. This piece of legislation would modernize an essential system of trust that Canadians have been relying on for many years, not thinking about it but taking it for granted. When we see that Measurement Canada sticker at the gas pump, we know that we are going to get the authoritative and correct measurement. We want to catalyze and create an economy that allows the digital tools to be deployed so that we can accelerate the deployment of tools for weights and measures in more sectors, especially the electric vehicle sector, so that we can create opportunities for Canadian businesses to participate in this very important digital economy, and so that Canadians can continue to trust the information they get, whether as consumers or as businesses, and so that we can do the work of continuing to protect Canadians, the very important work that the hard-working men and women of Measurement Canada do every day, which develops our economy, creates competition, creates efficiencies and builds trust for everyone.
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