Marsi cho, Mr. Speaker. Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, CRTC, which is a federal regulatory body that oversees all Canadian broadcasting and telecom activities, released a report on aggressive and misleading series of sales practices within the telecommunications industry.

Mr. Speaker, this report has long been awaited because many Canadians, including many Northerners, have long suspect the existence of such sale practices. After months of research and cross-country consultations, the CRTC has concluded that there is, indeed, a high prevalence of aggressive and misleading sales practices within the telecom and television marketplace. Such sale practices are found to exist in all manners of sale, including in-store and over-the-phone, door-to-door and online.

Mr. Speaker, some examples of these negative sales practices include sale agents not accepting no as an answer or service providers making it difficult to change or cancel services or sale agents withhold key contractual terms or provide inaccurate consumer information. Of course, some service providers engage in such practices more than others. However, these practices are occurring to such an extent that it is resulting in harm being done to consumers.

Mr. Speaker, these situations have a potential to inflict both mental stress and financial hardships with consumers. Moreover, the effects of such harms are amplified when it comes to vulnerable populations such as seniors, persons with disabilities, and people with language barriers. Other vulnerable factors include low-levels of digital literacy skills as well as lower education and income levels.

In terms of solutions, Mr. Speaker, while the report did indicate that service providers do have internal measures to monitor such sales practices, they vary from one provider to another. Overall, existing internal measures are insufficient. The report also noted that based on evidence gathered, many people are unaware of what options exist to seek redress in this area. For instance, the report discovered that many Canadians don't know that there is an independent body dedicated to resolving telecom consumer complaints, which is called Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services.

Mr. Speaker, while this report does fall under the federal jurisdiction, my goal with this statement is to help raise awareness around this issue with people of the NWT because, clearly, more work needs to be done in addressing negative sales practices within the telecom industry across this country. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.