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
Competition chronicle
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Buyer Beware! Aggressive Competition Watchdogs Trying to Block More International Deals – a cautionary tale from the Illumina-GRAIL merger challenge
By John Pecman, Huy Do & Robin Spillette
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…
Prime Minister Announces Proposed Competition Law Changes
On September 14, 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a public statement relating to issues of inflation, Canada’s middle class and competition policy. The statement was focused on measures which are aimed at reducing the cost of housing across Canada, supporting small businesses and addressing the escalating cost of groceries.…
United States Antitrust Agencies Announce New Merger Guidelines: Overview and Implications for Canada
On July 19, 2023, the United States Federal Trade Commission and the United States Department of Justice (together, the “Agencies”) released draft Merger Guidelines (the “Draft Guidelines”) for public comment. Once finalized, the Draft Guidelines, which are designed to help the public, business community, practitioners and courts understand how the Agencies identify potentially illegal mergers,…
FTC and DOJ Propose Changes to US Merger Filing Process
On June 27, 2023 the United States Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced proposed changes to the pre-merger notification process under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act (the “HSR Act”). These proposed changes were published on June 29, 2023.
By way of background, the HSR Act is federal legislation that requires…
“Canada Needs More Competition”: Competition Bureau Releases its Retail Grocery Market Study Report
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…
Competition Bureau Issues Finalized Enforcement Guidelines for Wage-Fixing and No-Poaching Offences: What You Need To Know
On June 23, 2022, Bill C-19, also known as the Budget Implementation Act, 2022, No.1 (“BIA”), received royal assent. As discussed in more detail in our previous blog post, the BIA included significant amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”), including the addition of new criminal cartel provisions prohibiting so-called wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements,…
Canada Should Avoid Costly Ex Ante Regulation of Digital Markets
By John Pecman, Huy Do & Peter Mangaly
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…
Competition Bureau Releases Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest: Volume 6
The Competition Bureau (the “Bureau”) recently released a new volume of its Deceptive Marketing Practices Digest (the “Digest”). The purpose of the Digest is to provide businesses with guidance on how to comply with the Competition Act (the “Act”) when marketing their products and services, and each volume focuses on a few specific types of…
Competition Bureau Recommends Significant Changes to Competition Act
On November 17, 2022, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, launched the much anticipated public consultation for potential amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”). As discussed in our previous blog post, this consultation was intended to serve as a wide-ranging review of existing competition policy in Canada, including whether…