September 14, 2025Welcome to Letters from CAMP, a newsletter on anti-monopoly activity in Canada and abroad, brought to you by the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. In this instalment we have:
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Teck Takeover Tests Whether Canadian Ownership MattersThis week, U.K. mining giant Anglo American announced its intention to purchase Teck Resources, a Canadian mining company focused on copper and zinc with operations in Canada, the U.S. and South America. Though the transaction is framed as a merger of equals, with three times the annual revenue of Teck, Anglo American is clearly the bigger fish in the pond. Beyond its impact on competition in the global mining market, the transaction is an early test of the Carney government’s commitment to maintaining Canadian ownership of our critical natural resources. Throughout the year’s trade tensions, the federal government has championed Canada’s critical minerals as an asset and source of leverage in our global relationships. Now we get to see whether that rhetorical rubber will hit the road. Anglo has made an effort to cast the transaction as Canadian as possible. The executive team will relocate to Vancouver and Teck stock will remain listed on the TSX. But ownership matters, and today’s executive team is not tomorrow’s. Time and time again these corporate commitments have proven shallow and temporary, and the decision to relocate execs, if it even delivers benefits in the first place, can be easily reversed. Canada recently tightened our laws on foreign investment to better protect the national interest, particularly when they relate to control of our natural resources. The Carney government must use this opportunity to demonstrate that they truly believe Canadian ownership matters. 📰 CAMP in the News 📰
Competition Bureau Launches Small Business Lending StudyLike it or not, banks live at the center of our economy. We depend on them to keep our hard-earned savings safe, access our money to make purchases, and extend credit when we need it. We often talk about banking competition in terms of the fees or interest we pay on financial products, but less appreciated is the role that competing banks in providing different chances at credit for borrowers. This is particularly important for the entrepreneurs who ask banks to take a bet on the future of their business when they apply for a loan to fund investment or ongoing operations. Not all banks are created equal, and more banks means more doors to knock on and pitch your business plan. That’s why CAMP is glad to see that the next area of focus for the Competition Bureau’s new market study powers will be the market for small businesses lending. The timing of the study couldn’t be more apt. Canada’s banking sector is highly concentrated and headed in the wrong direction thanks to takeovers like RBC-HSBC Canada. Canadian banks are famously risk averse, and while that leads to a more stable banking sector, it also makes it less likely that they’ll take a chance on a promising business trying to break out in an unfamiliar market. As a major driver of the Canadian economy, small businesses deserve to be served by a competitive banking sector. While just a first step, the Bureau’s attention on this important market is a welcome development. 📚 What We’re Reading 📚
Same Same but DifferentLast week we covered the disappointing outcome of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Google’s search monopoly. To recap: after determining Google held a monopoly in search reinforced by multi-billion dollar deals with companies like Apple, Judge Mehta declined to break up Google’s search distribution channels or even block the company from engaging in these lucrative deals. The decision is aging like milk, with expert commentary raising the logical contradictions that led to such a hands-off remedy decision. A key factor in Mehta’s reasoning was that Google’s monopoly was approaching its best before date with the onset of generative AI chatbots ready to supplant traditional search. We pointed out last week that usage data suggests very different adoption patterns between AI chatbots and general search, and new data out this week reinforces that hypothesis. Data from analytics company Similarweb shows that in the last month while 95% of ChatGPT users also used Google search, just 14% of Google search users also used ChatGPT. This usage data is key to understanding how products and services do and do not compete and whether they should be considered competitive constraints on one another. Such strong overlap between ChatGPT and Google users suggests the idea that ChatGPT is eating Google’s lunch is exaggerated. Limited overlap in the other direction implies ChatGPT has a narrower or at least different set of uses relative to online search. The upshot being that, for the foreseeable future, monopolies in search matter. Judge Mehta framed his decision as a reflection of judicial humility, but the more data we see shows us that the judge may have overestimated the quality of his crystal ball. If you have any monopoly tips or stories you’d like to share, drop us a line at hello@antimonopoly.ca
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