Moved second reading of 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.

He said: Honourable senators, I wish to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Nation.

I am pleased to rise at second reading in support of 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.

It’s a real barn burner of a bill, a real page-turner, if you will. I encourage all senators to read it. In fact, after trick-or-treating and “Halloweening” on Friday night, my daughter came home quite nervous and had trouble sleeping. She asked me, “Dad, can you read me your speech?” I obliged.

In all seriousness, trade measurement touches the lives of every Canadian each and every day. Whether you are fuelling your car, buying fruits and vegetables at the grocery store or paying your electricity bill, Canadians rely on accurate and reliable measurements.

Financial transactions based on measurement occur in virtually all major industry sectors in the commercial and retail supply chains. The accuracy of devices used to buy or sell goods based on measurement has a direct impact on the pockets of all Canadians.

The government’s responsibility for the trade measurement laws and requirements governing the accuracy and reliability of the purchase and sale of measured goods is grounded in the Constitution Act of 1867. These laws are essential to the fair, efficient and competitive operation of the marketplace and contribute to a strong and resilient economy.

Measurement Canada, an agency of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, is responsible for administering and enforcing Canada’s trade measurement laws and its requirements from coast to coast to coast.

As part of its legislative mandate, the agency evaluates and approves scales, gas pumps, electricity and natural gas meters, electric vehicle chargers and other measuring devices for use in Canada and also tests and certifies the accuracy of these devices once they are installed in the marketplace. The agency also calibrates and certifies the physical test standards used to certify devices. It investigates business and consumer complaints of suspected inaccurate measurement. The agency continues to recognize private sector organizations to test and certify measuring devices.

The laws governing the accuracy and reliability of the purchase and sale of measured goods have served consumers and businesses well for many decades. However, they have not kept pace with the current market environment and today’s digital age. These laws have not been substantially updated since the 1980s, at a time when the predominant measurement technologies were mechanical and transactions were paper-based. They came into effect before the internet and before mobile and wireless technologies became the predominant way that businesses and their customers interact. As such, the current laws are not well suited to adapt to the increasingly automated, software-enhanced and digitally enabled measurement systems.

The current legislative framework for trade measurement reflects the time it was created in. It is static, prescriptive, overly complex and burdensome. The compliance and enforcement tools are limited and tend to be punitive rather than preventative. They are not scalable to reflect the impact of non-compliance, resulting in penalties that are not always suitable to the offence. They need to be improved to achieve desired changes in behaviour and improve compliance in the marketplace.

Digital technologies are fundamental to the way businesses and consumers interact in the marketplace, and the pace of technology development continues to shorten product life cycles. Trade measurement laws governing financial transactions should reflect this — namely in the purchase and sale of measured goods — and protect consumers and businesses. This will help to prevent loss due to inaccurate measurement and unfair business practices while, at the same time, encouraging innovation, improving timely access to advances in measurement technologies and increasing businesses’ ability to adapt to an ever-evolving marketplace and customer preferences.

This bill amends the Weights and Measures Act and the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act with the goal of modernizing Canada’s trade measurement framework to address these challenges.

The proposed legislative changes would create a framework that would do the following: reduce barriers to business success, reduce the burden on regulated parties, increase protections for consumers and allow increased efficiency of service delivery.

For example, proposed amendments to the Weights and Measures Act will grant temporary permission to manufacturers to introduce new measurement technologies into the marketplace without delays. This will facilitate Canadians’ access to innovative measurement technologies and business approaches, particularly in new and rapidly expanding industries such as clean fuel measurement where research and development is essential to the advancement of the industry’s goals.

It will also allow businesses to purchase and use new state-of-the-art measurement technologies while providing sufficient safeguards for effective oversight of their performance while extending protections to businesses and consumers.

In addition to many other services, Measurement Canada inspectors annually conduct approximately 10,000 inspections of measuring devices that monitor performance in the marketplace and, where needed, may institute corrective actions. Additionally, around 1 million measuring devices are certified by authorized third-party service providers approved by Measurement Canada to perform inspections. Each year, thousands of new, increasingly complex devices enter the marketplace, which requires the agency to adopt risk-based approaches and efficiencies in order to provide effective marketplace surveillance.

To ensure continued oversight and to adapt to the expansion in the number of trade measurement devices and improving technology, these proposed amendments will allow Measurement Canada to introduce sampling as a risk-based approach for conducting device inspections under the Weights and Measures Act. These amendments will allow inspectors to inspect thousands of devices of the same type using statistical sampling. This will increase the efficiency of regulatory oversight and the agency’s operations overall. Sampling as a risk-based approach to inspection work is currently only permitted under the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act.

The expanded adoption of risk-based approaches will enable Measurement Canada to better focus on monitoring and implementing corrective actions in areas where the risk and costs associated with inaccurate measurements are higher. Additionally, it will allow the agency to allocate more resources towards addressing consumer and business complaints related to suspected measurement inaccuracies and unfair business practices.

The legislative amendments will allow the agency to leverage modern tools and strengthen service delivery. Proposed amendments will allow timely, accessible and cost-effective inspection services, particularly in areas that are difficult to access, through the use of digital technologies to access, diagnose and resolve issues remotely via the internet. This will allow the government to harness advances in digital technologies to provide consumers and businesses with protection against loss due to inaccurate measurement in communities where access to services can be limited to a few service providers. This will reduce travel costs for inspection services and benefit device owners who must comply with mandatory recertification requirements.

The amendments will also streamline processes and reduce the regulatory and administrative burden, creating exemptions from the full suite of requirements that can be burdensome for small businesses, for example, those who sell electricity and natural gas to customers in recreational trailer parks or as part of seasonal business. The administrative burden on small businesses to meet the requirements of the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act can be quite substantial, especially when their primary business is not the selling of electricity and natural gas. These proposed amendments would exempt these businesses from some or all requirements of the act.

Safeguards and protections in the proposed amendments would ensure that customers of businesses with these exemptions would receive the same level of protection against potential loss due to inaccurate measurement as customers of businesses without exemptions.

Now you know why my daughter needed help falling asleep.

The proposed changes to Canada’s trade measurement framework will keep pace with international trading partners. As other countries move towards stronger, more flexible approaches in trade measurement accuracy, Canada must keep pace. Canada is a country with recognized expertise in the field of trade measurement, but it must move towards a more flexible, future-focused legislative framework to stay relevant globally, reduce unintended barriers to trade and ensure continued international confidence in Canada-based transactions involving measurement.

Another important goal is to increase operational efficiencies so that government spending on the delivery of legislative and regulatory mandates is streamlined.

The proposed amendments will eliminate prescriptive administrative requirements, enabling digital and client-focused methods for reporting the entry, movement and corrective actions of measuring devices in cases of measurement inaccuracy or unfair practices.

Some small businesses lack the expertise in understanding regulatory requirements and often do not have the support or the resources to understand and act upon their obligations. The proposed amendments would allow Measurement Canada to work with small businesses to prevent non-compliance by helping them establish preventative control plans. These plans will outline a business strategy to identify, prevent and eliminate non-compliance within the law. This will reduce measurement inaccuracy and potential losses for their customers as well as avoid penalties due to non-compliance.

Currently, the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act allows the verification of electricity meters using sampling, removing the need to test and verify the accuracy of each of the millions of individual meters installed in residential and commercial locations across Canada. Proposed amendments to the Weights and Measures Act would grant the same authority for scales and the verification of thermal energy meters.

I would now like to speak about other amendments that support the modernization of the two acts and set them up for the future. The modernization of the two acts provides an opportunity to amend definitions and introduce new terms. It proposes several changes to serve the marketplace better and provide greater clarity about Measurement Canada’s duties under the acts.

Through this act, the government is proposing to expand or replace several definitions to allow for the inclusion of new technologies, new ways of doing business and greater flexibility in the delivery of services.

For instance, it proposes to expand the definition of “meter” to include software and digital components since meters are no longer strictly mechanical. It sets the economy up for success in a world where measurement devices are increasingly connected to each other remotely.

As more and more modes of conveyance are being used to deliver services involving trade measurement, it proposes adding a definition of “vehicle.” This would allow for clarity in the interpretation of the acts. Service delivery must ensure that consumers receive protection against inaccurate measurement. It reflects the growing number of services provided using various kinds of vehicles, such as via systems built directly into forklifts and waste collection trucks.

This act replaces the definition of “accredited meter verifier” with “authorized service provider” because their duties are so much more than verifying meters for accurate measurement. Referring to them as authorized service providers gives them flexibility to expand their roles and authorities. As the programs grow to inspect emerging measurement technologies for clean fuels — such as electric vehicle charging stations — or to use digital approaches to inspect devices, the roles of the authorized service providers may be expanded.

The bill also proposes to repeal several outdated or unused provisions. This will help reduce the regulatory burden on businesses. It also repeals the requirements in the Electricity and Gas Inspection Act for inspectors to conduct voltage tests on devices because it is rarely done and has been deemed unnecessary.

Additionally, the bill proposes amendments to both acts to correct several inconsistencies in outdated legislation and to bring clarity to the legislative authorities to work confidently and more efficiently.

With these changes, Measurement Canada inspectors can determine the amounts payable when investigating a dispute over inaccurate measurement. This will clarify that their role in disputes is not just to verify inaccuracy but to also recalculate the amount charged in the bill under dispute.

These changes, while being housekeeping in nature, propose to introduce a legislative requirement to review both acts every 10 years or so, so that they may remain relevant and better serve the needs of Canadians.

Finally, to allow legislation to come into force seamlessly, it includes several consequential amendments to update any provisions that refer to other amended provisions as a result of this bill — for example, updating various offence-related provisions in both acts to reflect the changes to inspector powers so there is consistency throughout.

Taken together, this creates transitional provisions recognizing that whatever was previously approved, permitted or issued under the current Electricity and Gas Inspection Act will remain so in the new act.

A healthy trade measurement framework underpins a strong economy by contributing to a fair and competitive marketplace and international, business and consumer confidence. The proposed legislative amendments will bring Canada’s trade measurement framework into the digital age and provide the needed flexibility to continue to keep pace with rapidly advancing measurement technologies and evolving trade measurement practices.

They will leverage modern tools to better serve Canadians through the use of digital approaches and sampling while enhancing measurement accuracy and facilitating an increase in the timeliness of the introduction of new measurement technologies.

In conclusion, this bill will reduce red tape, enhancing a strong economy where businesses and consumers alike can conduct their transactions with confidence. These amendments will better regulate trade measurement not just for the present but for a rapidly evolving future. Honourable senators, I thank you for your time and indulgence. I trust you see the merits of these amendments as I do in maintaining Canada’s international competitiveness.

Thank you. Meegwetch.

To the best of my knowledge, it’s common practice for the Senate to deal with housekeeping matters of the government and, additionally, matters that do not have any financial or monetary implications. That’s the reason why it’s starting here.

It is my understanding that modernization has been a long time coming. It has been decades since it has been modernized, so why has it taken so long? I haven’t read the bill carefully, so are we looking at sweeping changes? Do you have a sense of how much change this will bring?

Thank you for the question. My sense is that given that the bill was last amended prior to mobile phones and the internet, measurement technology has come a long way since then. Successive governments have always overlooked it because other priorities lay ahead of them.

It is housekeeping, it is time, it is relevant, and I think we just need to move forward. Why other governments didn’t do it — successive governments — I couldn’t tell you.

That leads me to my second question. If this has been a long time coming, and we’re looking at sweeping changes in this new digital age — you mentioned that there will be support for small businesses, but they are already really overburdened, and I’m concerned about there being potentially more red tape for them. I’m curious about the support that small businesses will receive.

I’ve not heard about the support they will receive, but I did pay attention to the deletions of the previous acts, and to me, when I read it, it did relieve substantial burdens for small businesses in terms of the reporting and their accounting now that everything can be digitally monitored.