March 2, 2024

Welcome 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 installment we have:

• Professor Jennifer Clapp’s new book on the titans that run the global food system
• SCP’s new Never 51 series highlights the dangers of monopolies in housing markets
• Bezos cracks down on editorial independence at the Washington Post

Now let’s dive in.

Taking on Agriculture’s Titans

Jennifer Clapp, a leading Canadian expert on food security and corporate consolidation, has just released her latest book, Titans of Industrial Agriculture. The book explores how a small handful of agribusiness giants dominate the global farm input sector, controlling seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and machinery. In a story familiar to Letters readers, these firms have used their market power to dictate farming practices, squeeze farmers, limit biodiversity, and drive up food costs.

Clapp’s research shows how these corporations have entrenched their dominance through mergers, lobbying, and government subsidies, shaping food systems to prioritize corporate profits over food security. Her work has been a major force in understanding the structural causes behind food price inflation and supply chain vulnerabilities and Titans offers an excellent opportunity to dive deeper into the topic.

Last year, CAMP Executive Director Keldon Bester joined Professor Clapp on TVO’s The Agenda, where they discussed how monopolies at every stage of the food system—from farm inputs to grocery retail—impact affordability and sustainability. The message of that discussion is even truer today: if we want a resilient food system, we need to challenge concentrated corporate power.

📚What We’re Reading📚

• Matt Hatfield, The Rise of the Tech Oligarchs Part II: The Anatomy of Oligarchy (OpenMedia)
• Stefanie Marotta, Big Six bank earnings beat expectations, but executives warn of tariff risks (Globe and Mail)
• Luke Goldstein, Google’s New Private Tax (The Lever)

Social Capital Partners Launches Never 51 Series

As Canada reckons with its economic dependence on the U.S., our colleagues at Social Capital Partners (SCP) have launched the Never 51 series, showcasing ideas to boost Canadian economic resilience.

In their latest article, SCP exposes how financialization and corporate landlords have reshaped Canada’s housing market, making it harder for individuals and families to afford homes. Institutional investors are buying up increasing shares of rental housing, using economies of scale and pricing algorithms to drive up costs and limit tenant protections.

The piece shows how, by behaving more like a private mortgage insurer, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has favored large financial players and provided limited support for first-time homebuyers. SCP also raises important concerns about concentration in homebuilding industries, where a small number of players can act as bottlenecks on Canada’s housing supply. This has limited competition, slowed construction, and inflated home prices.

More than ever, new ideas are needed to make the Canadian economy more independent, resilient and dynamic. We at CAMP are glad to see our partners at SCP leading the charge.

📰 CAMP in the News 📰

• ​On hold: Telecoms in transition (The Logic)

Jeff Bezos: Personal Liberty for Me, Oligarchy for Thee

Jeff Bezos is finally dropping the charade and acting like a proper newspaper baron. In an internal memo, Bezos announced a radical shift in the editorial stance for the Washington Post, vowing that its opinion pages will now exclusively promote “personal liberty and free markets”—and will not publish dissenting viewpoints.

This ideological lockdown, an obvious effort to align the Post with Bezos’ corporate interests, has drawn intense criticism from journalists and media watchdogs. Jeff Stein, a Washington Post reporter, publicly called it a “massive encroachment” on editorial independence.

The move follows a familiar pattern: billionaires acquiring legacy media institutions and reshaping them to serve their own economic and political goals. Sohrab Ahmari at UnHerd described the shift as turning the Post into a “billionaire’s think tank,” cementing its role as a mouthpiece for libertarian orthodoxy.

Claiming to champion personal freedom while shutting down dissent is fooling no one. Bezos’ move is a reminder of what we already knew: when billionaires control the flow of information, we only have the freedom to agree with them.

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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February 23, 2024

Welcome 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 installment we have:

• Google challenges the constitutionality of Canada’s competition laws in response to ad tech suit
• Conservatives make pledge to take on Canada’s big banks if brought to power in coming election
• Canada’s Competition Bureau investigates the use of AI pricing software in rental markets

Now let’s dive in.

Google Launches Charter Challenge in Response to Bureau Lawsuit

Surprising few, Google fired back this week against the Competition Bureau’s lawsuit, denying allegations of abusing its market power in the online advertising business. Focusing on Google’s ad tech dominance, the Bureau suit alleges that the company unlawfully tied together its services to stifle competition and inflate costs and used predatory tactics to drive competitors out of the market.

In its response, Google is playing defense on multiple fronts. Not only does it deny having a "substantial degree of market power," let alone abusing it, but Google is also challenging the constitutionality of the proposed financial penalties, calling them an affront to Google’s rights and "contrary to the public interest." The Bureau’s case makes use of Canada’s strengthened competition law, which raised the maximum fine for abuses of dominance above $15 million, a rounding error for a company like Google, to a maximum of 3% of annual global revenue.

While Google argues that competition in digital advertising is alive and well, its control over Canada’s ad market suggests otherwise. The Bureau’s investigation has found that Google owns four of the largest ad tech services in the country, giving it an overwhelming market share. Google’s counterargument—claiming the Bureau has misdefined the market—follows a familiar Big Tech playbook: reframe the issue, challenge the legal process, and outlast cash-strapped regulators in court.

This case isn’t just about Google. It’s a litmus test for Canada’s new era of competition enforcement. If meaningful fines, passed unanimously by federal lawmakers, are deemed unconstitutional, the largest corporations on the planet will go back to paying parking tickets for potentially billions of dollars of harms and ill-gotten gains.

📚What We’re Reading📚

• Matt Hatfield, The Rise of the Tech Oligarchs Part I: How we got here (OpenMedia)
• Patrick Shivers, BIGGEST Problem in Agriculture (YouTube)
• Matt Sedensky, Consumer watchdog agency called ‘vicious’ by Trump seen as a ‘hero’ to many it aided (Associated Press)

Canadian Conservatives Pledge to ‘Go Huge’ on Open Banking

With an election on the horizon, Canada’s Conservatives are making a big bet on open banking, pledging to fast-track reforms that would allow fintech startups to compete with Canada’s Big Five banks if elected.

Open banking, which makes it easier for Canadians to switch banks, is currently stuck in limbo, delayed by political gridlock and pushback from industry incumbents. The Liberal government had planned to roll out a regulatory framework by 2026, but those efforts have stalled. Now, Conservatives say they’ll be ready to move quickly to break open Canada’s banking sector if they win power.

While the focus on tackling Canada’s banking oligopoly from Conservatives is welcome, open banking is just one step needed to improve competition in the financial sector. Strong enforcement of competition laws, fair access to financial infrastructure, and breaking the big bank’s hold on payment services are all part of the anti-monopoly equation.

A more competitive, efficient, and dynamic financial system is key to building a more resilient Canadian economy. Whichever party forms the next federal government must be up to the task.

📰 CAMP in the News 📰

• Report on Business, Changemakers: Meet 20 emerging leaders reinventing how Canada does business (Globe and Mail)

Competition Bureau Targets AI-Powered Rent Price Fixing

In a move that could provide some relief for renters, the Competition Bureau has launched an investigation into whether AI-driven rent pricing software is allowing landlords to coordinate housing price hikes.

This investigation mirrors a similar U.S. antitrust lawsuit, alleging that landlords used RealPage’s YieldStar software to share sensitive pricing data and push rents higher across markets. For renters already struggling with record-high costs, this could be a game-changer as policy makers work to turn the tide of Canada’s housing crisis. AI-driven pricing is often touted as a tool to make markets more efficient. In reality, it can just as easily be a covert form of collusion that keeps rents artificially high.

If the Bureau finds wrongdoing, it could lead to not only legal consequences but also a broader push for legislation to ban the use of algorithmic pricing in housing markets. With housing affordability already at crisis levels, renters cannot be asked to bear the cost of collusion.

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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February 16, 2024

Welcome 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 installment we have:

• Liberal leadership candidates begin to put out initial competition policy platform promises
• The Trump administration’s brazen attack on an important defender of American consumers
• Why anti-monopoly policy is the best path forward for the future success of Democrats in the U.S.

Now let’s dive in.

What are Liberal Leadership Candidates Saying on Competition?

As the race for leadership of Canada’s Liberal party heats up, competition policy promises are starting to pop up on platforms. In the interest of saving you time, CAMP is providing our view on how candidates stack up on this important issue so far and what we hope to see in the future.

To date, both Chrystia Freeland and Karina Gould have included commitments related to protecting Canadians from monopolies. In late January, Karina Gould promised to increase the powers of the Competition Bureau as part of her affordability plan, showing a welcome understanding of the harms of mergers and consolidation. Going even further, this week Chrystia Freeland laid out an ambitious commitment to overhaul the Competition Bureau and to break open vertically integrated grocery markets. As CAMP has shown, corporate concentration is endemic to the entire food system, but tackling concentrated power at the grocery aisle is an excellent start.

The same cannot be said for Mark Carney, who has so far avoided making any promises on competition. While Carney’s 2022 book Value(s) included discussion of the importance of strong competition policy in a fair economy, that enthusiasm has yet to translate to policy commitments. Silence on the issue to date is notable given the predominance of affordability concerns for Canadians heading into the leadership race. Competition is not an abstract issue — Canadians feel it every time they pay sky-high grocery bills, fight telecom oligopolies for basic services, or see independent businesses struggle against corporate behemoths.

With other candidates already staking claims on reforming competition law, we’re on the lookout for Carney to clarify what he’ll do to tackle Canada’s monopoly problem. With debates on the horizon, this will be an early test of whether anti-monopoly policy takes center stage—or is left as an afterthought in the fight for Canada’s economic future.

📚 What We’re Reading 📚

• Sohrab Ahmari, How Elon Musk is a Danger to Trumpism (UnHerd)
• Brendan Sinclair, How an IT worker from Saskatchewan made the best game of the year (The Logic)
• Marshall Steinbaum, A Real Post-Neoliberal Agenda (Boston Review)

Wall Street and Big Tech’s Coup Against Consumer Protection

The Trump administration’s attack on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is rapidly escalating into an all-out war on financial oversight and consumer protection. Created in 2008 after the financial crisis, the agency is being dismantled by the powerful interests it was tasked with protecting Americans from: Big Money and Big Tech.

Elon Musk and Trump’s Office of Management and Budget chief Russ Vought have already halted enforcement actions, litigation, and supervision. Nearly all probationary employees have been fired, and reports indicate a plan to purge 95% of the agency’s workforce. Meanwhile, the White House has even set up a tip line encouraging financial firms to report CFPB regulators who continue to enforce consumer protections.

This is an unprecedented attack on an institution, but the agency isn’t going down quietly. On Friday, lawyers representing the agency’s staff union won a temporary halt to the firings and the deletion of critical enforcement data. The fate of the CFPB is still uncertain, but the challenge is emblematic of the resistance that is emerging to the rapid fire dismantling of important institutions under the Trump administration.

If the CFPB goes down, the consequences for American consumers are clear: expect more fraud, illegal foreclosures, predatory lending, and a free-for-all for financial giants who see customers as little more than revenue streams. The CFPB was one of the key consumer protection defenses for Americans—and now, it’s on life support.

An Anti-Monopoly Future for Democrats

If there’s one lesson to take from the situation in the U.S., it’s that anti-monopoly isn’t just good policy—it’s good politics. As American Economic Liberties Project’s executive director Nidhi Hegde lays out in Democracy Journal, corporate concentration is at the root of affordability crises, wage stagnation, and political instability. Fighting monopolies isn’t just an economic stance—it’s a way to rebuild trust in our democracies.

The Biden administration’s anti-monopoly enforcers—like Lina Khan at the FTC and Jonathan Kanter at DOJ—delivered some of the biggest wins of his presidency: stopping mega-mergers, challenging Big Tech, and curbing corporate abuses. But Democrats often failed to frame these victories as part of a cohesive economic vision. Instead, they let corporate lobbying and media spin define their actions as “overreach.”

Now, with the CFPB’s possible dismantling, the stakes couldn’t be clearer. The path forward for Democrats isn’t watering down their agenda to appease corporate donors—it’s embracing anti-monopoly as a core economic and political identity. The fight against corporate power is the fight for economic freedom. Will Democrats seize it, or will they let the forces of consolidation continue unchecked?

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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February 9, 2024

Welcome 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 installment we have:

• Turning Trump’s tariff threat into an opportunity to address Canada’s monopoly moment
• Soaring eggs prices in the U.S. demonstrate the fragility of a consolidated food system
• How Big Tech enables suppression of expression while championing free speech values

Now let’s dive in.

Success in a Tariff World Means Tackling Monopolies

What a difference a week makes. Just days after Trump’s tariff threat and down to the wire 30 day pause, Canada is contending with an entirely different economic reality. Canadians’ perception of our southern neighbour has undergone a fundamental shift, leading to calls to boycott American companies and providing a stark reminder of just how dependent we are on foreign firms.

Canadians now understand the need to act to make our economy more independent from an increasingly erratic superpower. This is a monopoly problem (or monopsony, if you wanted to be pedantic). By taking the path of least resistance, the U.S. became THE buyer for the Canadian economy. Now, Canada is learning the lesson that so many businesses dependent on massive corporations have: we are not in charge.

While this new economic reality is nothing to celebrate, it does present an opportunity to shake loose the thinking that has held a grip on Canadian policy makers for decades and to finally tackle Canada’s monopoly problem.

Building a more dynamic and resilient economy means tackling our domestic monopolies at home while mitigating our dependence on monopolies from abroad. Foundational markets key to our economic success - banking, transportation, telecommunications - are locked up by homegrown oligopolies. At the same time, digital markets are controlled by foreign giants increasingly testing the boundaries of our sovereignty. Markets that work for everyday Canadians, not monopolies, must be a top priority in this new economic reality.

The economic and policy logic that has dominated Canada for decades is not the answer to the challenges we face today. A program that diverges from our pro-monopoly past is necessary to create a Canadian economy that can be resilient and successful in this new era of uncertainty.

Crisis in Consolidated Markets Send U.S. Egg Prices Soaring

Egg prices in the U.S. have hit record highs as a devastating avian flu outbreak collides with the realities of a hyper-consolidated industry. Over 20 million chickens were wiped out last quarter, sending wholesale egg prices soaring to over $8.85 USD per dozen in states like California.

What makes this crisis worse is the structure of the U.S. egg market. Unlike Canada, where supply management has created a relatively more diverse market of smaller producers, the American egg industry is dominated by a handful of mega-producers like Cal-Maine and Rose Acre Farms, each managing millions of birds. When a single farm is infected, the results are mass culling and mass disruption—removing millions of eggs per day from the market.

In contrast, Canada’s smaller, distributed farm model has helped keep egg prices stable despite similar disease pressures. This system prevents the kind of market-wide shock seen in the U.S., proving that strong regulation that supports diverse markets creates more resilient supply chains in times of crisis.

The lesson here is clear: bigger isn’t always better when it comes to essential goods. The more concentrated an industry becomes, the more vulnerable it is to disruption—and the higher the costs consumers pay when things go wrong.

Big Tech and Big Brother: When Platforms Enable Dictators

Tech giants like Apple and Twitter/X have long claimed they defend free speech, but their actions tell a different story. In a blistering op-ed, Russian opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza, Yulia Navalnaya, and Ilya Yashin laid out how Big Tech companies have caved to authoritarian regimes by complying with censorship laws. Apple, for instance, removed dozens of independent media apps and VPN services from its Russian App Store—effectively handing control of information flow to the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Elon Musk’s Twitter/X has given us a masterclass in what government-driven censorship actually looks like. As Techdirt reports, Musk—who now holds a special government role—used his dual status as a government official and private platform owner to suppress speech critical of his administration. His actions included labeling criticism as "criminal" and having posts removed—exactly the kind of government interference in speech that First Amendment advocates claim to oppose.

These cases expose the double standard in how “free speech” absolutists operate. While they rail against government interference in content moderation, they’re notably silent when corporate-owned platforms actively enable state repression. The reality is that Big Tech isn’t neutral—it makes choices that shape democracy, free expression, and power dynamics worldwide.

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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