While journalistic attention may have waned, policy momentum has accelerated. The recent amendments to the Competition Act, particularly in Bill C-59, represent the most significant overhaul of Canadian competition law in a generation, giving the Bureau new powers to challenge anti-competitive deals and conduct.
You’re absolutely right! Even before the overhaul, Boswell was the most assertive Competition Commissioner in recent memory. And he hasn’t been quiet since then.
But I’m still not convinced that the Competition Bureau has either the powers or resources that they truly require in order to take on our deeply entrenched monopolies.
The resource question is crucial. Budget 2024 provided the Bureau with $100 million over five years and $27.9 million ongoing. This funding must now be measured against the legal war chests of the firms the Bureau is meant to challenge. It frames the true scale of the task.
Exactly. And it’s hard not to compare it to the amount of money the FTC and the DoJ have in the US that they can dedicate towards trust-busting.
Even if the Competition Bureau believed that there was a major company that should be broken up, I don’t think they’d have the resources to truly fight that fight. The US broke up Standard Oil and AT&T. I don’t think we could even break up Cineplex.
While journalistic attention may have waned, policy momentum has accelerated. The recent amendments to the Competition Act, particularly in Bill C-59, represent the most significant overhaul of Canadian competition law in a generation, giving the Bureau new powers to challenge anti-competitive deals and conduct.
You’re absolutely right! Even before the overhaul, Boswell was the most assertive Competition Commissioner in recent memory. And he hasn’t been quiet since then.
But I’m still not convinced that the Competition Bureau has either the powers or resources that they truly require in order to take on our deeply entrenched monopolies.
The resource question is crucial. Budget 2024 provided the Bureau with $100 million over five years and $27.9 million ongoing. This funding must now be measured against the legal war chests of the firms the Bureau is meant to challenge. It frames the true scale of the task.
Exactly. And it’s hard not to compare it to the amount of money the FTC and the DoJ have in the US that they can dedicate towards trust-busting.
Even if the Competition Bureau believed that there was a major company that should be broken up, I don’t think they’d have the resources to truly fight that fight. The US broke up Standard Oil and AT&T. I don’t think we could even break up Cineplex.