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The Commissioner of Competition, Matthew Boswell said in a recent speech that “it’s not bad to be big” while outlining the noteworthy legislative changes to the monopolistic practices provisions of the Competition Act. He added that “companies that grow large by innovating and competing on the merits should not be punished”. While high levels of market concentration can indicate potential monopolistic practices, modern competition policy recognizes that high market share alone should not be a concern.  Instead, the competitive dynamics of the market, consumer welfare, and the behaviour of the firms within the market must be considered to accurately assess the implications of market concentration. That being said, the recent amendments to the merger provisions which repealed the efficiency defence, introduced U.S. style rebuttable market concentration presumptions and now permit mergers to be blocked on the basis of market shares alone suggest that proposed mergers in concentrated sectors could be in for a bumpy ride from the Competition Bureau.Continue Reading Does firm size matter more with the recent amendments to the Competition Act?

This article was first published in Competition Policy International – Antitrust Chronicle on September 3, 2024; for further in-depth analysis, please visit the Antitrust Chronicle®

I. Introduction

Canada has embarked on a transformative journey to fortify its competition policy landscape, hopefully ushering in a new era of regulatory vigor and market fairness. The recent amendments to the Competition Act mark a significant milestone in Canada’s commitment to fostering a competitive marketplace that benefits consumers and businesses alike. Led by the efforts of policymakers, the Competition Bureau, and competition advocates, these reforms aim to address anti-competitive practices, enhance enforcement mechanisms, and promote a culture of fair competition.Continue Reading Amendments To The Competition Act Only One Step Towards A Truly Competitive Economy

On November 27, 2023, the Federal Government passed a Notice of Ways and Means Motion to introduce a bill entitled An Act to implement certain provisions of the fall economic statement tabled in Parliament on November 21, 2023 and certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 28, 2023, which was tabled on November 30, 2023 as Bill C-59 (the “Bill”). The Bill proposes amendments that implement some of the goals discussed in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, including significant and far-reaching amendments to Canada’s Competition Act (the “Act”).Continue Reading Further and Significant Proposed Amendments to the Competition Act in the areas of Merger Review, Ordinary Sales Pricing, Drip Pricing and Environmental Claims 

The rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming businesses around the world, offering unprecedented opportunities for innovation and economic prosperity. However, it also presents unique challenges for competition authorities tasked with ensuring fair and efficient markets. In response, the competition authorities such as the Canadian Competition Bureau, the UK Competition and Market Authority (CMA), the European Commission – DG Competition (EC) and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have been actively engaging in consultations and research to understand the implications of AI on competition policy. This blog highlights some of these agencies’ efforts to adapt competition policy to evolving digital markets as well as noting some of the key legal antitrust risks for business.Continue Reading Competition Authorities shining the light on AI

On September 18, 2023, Bill C-352, which was introduced by Jagmeet Singh (leader of the NDP), had its first reading in the House of Commons (the “Singh Bill”). On September 21, 2023, Bill C-56, which was introduced by Chrystia Freeland (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance), also received its first reading in the House of Commons (the “Government Bill”). Each of these bills includes significant proposed amendments to the Competition Act in response to the ongoing public consultation and legislation review process regarding competition policy in Canada.

While each of the bills share some similarities (including, for example, the introduction of market study powers and removal of the efficiencies defence), the bills include a number of different proposals and the Singh Bill includes overall more substantive recommendations for amendments to Canada’s existing competition law regime.Continue Reading Proposed Amendments to the Competition Act receive first reading in House of Commons

In an unprecedented intervention by the European Commission (EC), the EC recently asserted jurisdiction over and challenged a United States-based merger that falls below the filing thresholds of the EC and each and every European Union Member State. This action threatens to subject future merger transactions with no material connection to European commerce to merger control by the EC. An extraordinary Statement of Concerns, signed-on by former senior competition law agency leaders and competition law experts from around the world, recently published in Concurrences highlights the harmful implications of the overreach by the EC for predictable global competition law enforcement.  Also, in another first, five former Competition Commissioners from Canada are jointly waving the red flag with respect to the EC’s disregard of well-accepted norms established by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Competition Network (ICN) as well as longstanding jurisprudence concerning jurisdiction for the purpose of international merger review.Continue Reading Buyer Beware!  Aggressive Competition Watchdogs Trying to Block More International Deals – a cautionary tale from the Illumina-GRAIL merger challenge

On June 27, 2023, the Competition Bureau  (the “Bureau”)  released its “Retail Grocery Market Study Report” (the “Report”). The Report is the result of the October 24, 2022 announcement by the Bureau that it would conduct a study of grocery store competition in Canada.

The Report observes that grocery prices have been rising and suggests this is in part because Canada’s grocery industry is concentrated and has high entry barriers. The Report concludes that increased competition in the industry is part of the solution. The balance of the Report is devoted to explaining the basis for the Report’s conclusions and exploring and recommending steps for achieving increased competition.Continue Reading “Canada Needs More Competition”: Competition Bureau Releases its Retail Grocery Market Study Report

In the March 30, 2023 comments submitted by Fasken[1] in response to the Government of Canada’s consultation and discussion paper[2] on the Future of Competition Policy in Canada (the “Discussion Paper”), significant concerns are raised about any amendments that move away from identifying anti-competitive conduct through evidence-based assessment of its effects and which would establish ex ante regulation to place blanket prohibitions on certain types of conduct by certain firms. In a paper recently published by the Competition Policy International[3], we examine the international and Canadian debate around ex ante regulations for Big Tech platform companies. The paper explores the need for and costs associated with ex ante regulation and concludes that pursuing such regulations at this time in Canada would be ill-advised.Continue Reading Canada Should Avoid Costly Ex Ante Regulation of Digital Markets

As discussed in our previous blog post, on November 17, 2022, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, launched the much anticipated public consultation on the second stage of potential amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”).

As part of this consultation process, the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (“ISED”) issued a discussion paper, titled The Future of Competition Policy in Canada (the “Discussion Paper”), which considers numerous issues and potential areas of reform, including in the mergers, unilateral conduct, competitor collaboration, deceptive marketing and administration/enforcement context. The Discussion Paper does not include any particular recommendations or proposed amendments to the Act. Rather, it simply sets the stage and invites feedback from interested stakeholders on the issues and potential areas of reform. Feedback can be provided on or before February 27, 2023.

To help businesses better understand the issues and potential areas of reform included in the Discussion Paper, we are releasing a series of blog posts discussing these issues and potential areas of reform on a topic-by-topic basis. This is the fifth and final blog post in the series, which is focused on administration and enforcement of the law.Continue Reading Administration and Enforcement of the Law – Does the Government intend to give the Competition Bureau a stronger enforcement regime?

The Trudeau government’s plan for a quick and easy win on competition law reform owing to public pressure to tame the large digital platforms will result in significant changes to the Competition Act being pushed through with little to no scrutiny because there is not enough time to properly consult and debate the proposed reforms under the Budget Implementation Act (“BIA”) process.  While Justin Trudeau campaigned to control the use of omnibus budget bills, he continues their use even for significant amendments to economic framework legislation. 
Continue Reading Rapid passage of Competition Act amendments through Budget Implementation Act process can cause more harm than good