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Justine Reisler

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Justine Reisler's practice focuses on all aspects of competition law, deceptive marketing and foreign investment law, with a focus on domestic and multinational mergers.

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As discussed in more detail in our prior blog post titled “Competition Bureau Recommendations to Strengthen the Competition Act”, in a continuing effort to ensure that Canada has an effective and impactful competition law framework, Senator Howard Wetston invited interested stakeholders to participate in a consultation to promote additional dialogue on the path forward for Canadian competition law. As part of this consultation, Senator Wetston received comments from more than 25 stakeholders, including a detailed submission from the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”).

The Bureau’s submission includes 35 wide-ranging recommendations that, if implemented, would fundamentally reshape competition policy in Canada. To help businesses better understand the impact of these recommendations, we are releasing a series of blog posts discussing the recommendations on a topic-by-topic basis. This blog post is focussed on abuse of dominance.Continue Reading Competition Bureau Recommendations Regarding Abuse of Dominance

On February 12, 2022, the federal government proposed, in the Canada Gazette, amendments to the National Security Review of Investments Regulations (the “Regulations”). The Regulations set out the timelines of the national security review process under the Investment Canada Act (the “Act”). If ratified, the proposed amendments would create a voluntary filing mechanism for investors that do not currently have a filing obligation under the Act, and would extend the initial national security review period from 45 days to 5 years for all investments by non-Canadians that do not make a filing. Investors who choose to submit a voluntary filing will, within 45 days from the certification date of their filing, know whether the Government of Canada intends to challenge their investment. The proposed amendments will benefit businesses contemplating an investment in Canada by creating an option to achieve regulatory certainty pre-implementation.
Continue Reading Canada Proposes to Permit Voluntary Filings under National Security Provisions of its Investment Canada Act

As discussed in more detail in our prior blog post titled “Competition Bureau Recommendations to Strengthen the Competition Act”, in a continuing effort to ensure that Canada has an effective and impactful competition law framework, Senator Howard Wetston invited interested stakeholders to participate in a consultation to promote additional dialogue on the path forward for Canadian competition law. As part of this consultation, Senator Wetston received comments from more than 25 stakeholders, including a detailed submission from the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”).
Continue Reading Competition Bureau Recommendations Regarding Merger Review in Canada

Governments and competition agencies around the world, including those in Canada, the United States and Europe, are reviewing their competition policies to assess whether they are capable of addressing novel and complex issues arising in today’s fast-paced and ever-changing digital economy. These issues arise because the digital economy, unlike traditional markets, is often charactered by, among other things, platform-based business models, multi-sided markets, network effects, economies of scale, rapid technological change and disruptive innovation.
Continue Reading Competition Bureau Recommendations to Strengthen the Competition Act: Introduction

On February 2nd, 2022, the Director of Investments issued his annual report on the administration of the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”) for the fiscal year commencing April 1, 2020 and ending March 31, 2021. The Annual Report provides insight on key trends relating to foreign investment and national security reviews in Canada.

During the period covered by the Annual Report, a total of 826 filings were certified under the ICA, representing a 20% decrease from the 1,032 filings made in the previous year. Most notably, the number of applications for review (required in the case of high-value foreign acquisitions) dropped by 67% over the prior period.Continue Reading Investment Canada Act: 2020/21 Annual Report

Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (“ISED”), Francois-Philippe Champagne, made two important announcements on Monday morning in an exclusive interview with Toronto Star business reporter, Christine Dobby, and in a subsequent press release: (1) the Government of Canada (the “Government”) will engage in a broad review of the Competition Act (the “Act”) with a view to promoting dynamic and fair markets, and (2) the $93 million transaction-size threshold for pre-merger notification will not be increased this year – an unusual development following a year of GDP growth.
Continue Reading Upcoming Review of the Competition Act and Other Developments

Competition, marketing and foreign investment law saw a number of changes in the past year. Many of these changes were in response to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, which has significantly changed the way Canadians, businesses and government agencies operate. Despite the pandemic, the Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) has actively continued its enforcement activity and provided a number of guidance documents to help businesses stay onside the Competition Act (the “Act”). Similarly, Canada’s Investment Review Division (“IRD”) of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (“ISED”) has also responded to the challenges resulting from the pandemic.
Continue Reading Fasken’s Forecast for 2022 and Beyond: 2021’s Top 10 Trends in Canadian Competition, Marketing & Foreign Investment Law and what Businesses should expect in 2022

Under the Investment Canada Act (the “ICA”), the direct acquisition of control of a Canadian business by a non-Canadian may be subject to a pre-closing review and approval process (a “Net Benefit Review”) if a specified monetary threshold is exceeded. When officially published in the February Canada Gazette, the following thresholds for Net Benefit Reviews will be effective from January 1, 2022:
Continue Reading Investment Canada Act: New Monetary Thresholds for 2022

On November 4, 2021, Justine Reisler and Robin Spillette attended the Global Competition Review’s annual Women in Antitrust conference in Washington, D.C. The event featured an incredible lineup of female lawyers and economists on panels addressing some of the most cutting-edge topics in antitrust today, namely: (i) assessing deal risk in a time of changing standards, (ii) approaches being taken by competition agencies to address global concerns about Big Tech, (iii) sustainable economic development, and (iv) innovation in the pharmaceutical sector.
Continue Reading Key Themes from the Global Competition Review’s Annual Women in Antitrust Conference

On September 20, 2021, Canadians will head to the polls to elect a new House of Commons. All of Canada’s major political parties have released political platforms which outline their plans to revise and, at least in their view, improve Canadian competition law and policy. Depending on which party is ultimately elected (and whether they win a majority), competition law in Canada may see some significant changes, including more serious penalties for existing offences and reviewable practices, as well as a few new ones.
Continue Reading How will the outcome of the 2021 Federal Election impact Competition Law in Canada?