Media

According to Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, “there is in our competition institutions, and reflected in parts of government, a ‘first do no harm’ kind of approach.” That attitude is complemented by so-called “regulatory humility,” he adds, which means the state plays the role of an uncertain broker, unwilling to assume the worst of companies. He says this approach misses the “one-way nature of these things,” and so it becomes less likely that we can reverse their concentration and entrenchment.

Bester said it’s notable for two reasons. Firstly, it implies the bureau believes there’s merit to the complaints against RBC and Pathways Alliance. The second is that by getting the feds to amend the act to apply deceptive marketing provisions to more general statements rather than just products or services, the bureau is likely attempting to pre-empt the tribunal narrowly interpreting the rules.

The Competition Bureau says it’s obtained a court order in an ongoing investigation into Google’s advertising practices in Canada.

On Feb. 16, members of the House of Commons Agriculture Committee, including Liberal MP Kody Blois, left, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor, and Bloc Québécois MP Yves Perron, sent an open letter to the CEOs of Walmart and Loblaws calling on those companies to adopt a grocery code of conduct. 

While complaints about deceptive marketing are generally quicker to resolve, these cases can sometimes take years to move through the system, said Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project and a former special advisor at the Competition Bureau from 2019-2021.

Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Antimonopoly Project, welcomed the announcement of an investigation by the Bureau.

“I’m glad to see the office moving quickly,” he said.