May 4, 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:

• What the newly elected Carney government should do on the competition policy front
• UK grocers cut prices to win consumers while Canadian supermarkets fall back on the flag
• Apple’s app store monopoly is cracked open in America, but Canadians won’t benefit

Now let’s dive in.

No Retreat: A Carney Government Must Double Down on Competition

As Prime Minister Carney prepares to lead a minority Liberal government in Ottawa, Canada is entering a defining moment on competition policy. After two years of reforms aimed at taking on monopolies, there will be strong pressure from entrenched interests to soften the stance. But as CAMP argues this week, a Carney-led government must resist the urge to retreat.

Canada’s concentrated economy—from telecom to groceries to banking—has already made life more expensive and less innovative. The solution isn’t more consolidation, it’s more competition. If a Carney government wants to strengthen affordability, sovereignty, and innovation, it should increase enforcement funding, support merger challenges, and bolster policy against gatekeeping behaviour in both digital and traditional industries.

This isn’t just about consumers. A growing number of Canadians are shut out of opportunity due to the gatekeeping of dominant firms. Whether it’s banks shutting out non-traditional workers, grocers squeezing suppliers, or tech giants blocking innovators, monopoly power is choking economic dynamism. Instead of watering down competition reforms to placate the powerful, Canada should do the opposite: back the Bureau, fund enforcement, and break open bottlenecks.

A pro-competition agenda isn’t some policy side hustle. It’s the backbone of a resilient economy that can adapt to external shocks—whether from Washington tariffs, monopolized digital platforms, or supply chain crises. A Carney government has the opportunity to build on the good work started by the previous government. They should take it.

📚 What We’re Reading 📚

• Spence, First thing we do after the election, let’s kill the bankers’ cozy little oligopoly (Globe and Mail)
• Meador, Antitrust’s Conservative Future, (Commonplace)
• Alloway and Weisenthal, What The ‘Lentil King of Saskatchewan’ Knows About World Trade, (Odd Lots)

UK Grocers Fight Price War While Canadian Grocers Wrap Themselves in the Flag

In the UK, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are cutting prices in an all-out bid to win over grocery shoppers. Price-matching discount chains like Aldi, slashing margins, and boosting loyalty rewards—it’s a real price war, and it shows what happens when retailers are forced to compete.

Compare this with Canada, where grocers are talking a big game when it comes to patriotism but doing little to address sky-high prices. Loblaw and others have leaned into “Buy Canadian” marketing, encouraging consumers to support domestic products while continuing to rake in record profits. We all enjoy seeing more maple leaves around, but patriotic branding is no substitute for real competition.

While UK consumers are benefiting from aggressive price competition, Canadian families continue to feel the squeeze. Until Canada’s policy makers act to inject real competition into the food system, Canadians will be stuck paying more for less. It’s time to go beyond flag waving and bring real discipline to a sector that sorely lacks it.

Apple’s App Monopoly Cracked Open, But Not for Canadians

In a major win for developers and consumers, a U.S. judge ruled this week that Apple violated court orders by continuing to stifle competition on its App Store. The case stems from Epic Games’ long-running challenge to Apple’s 30% fee and rigid payment restrictions on its app store marketplace. Apple had tried to skirt the ruling by introducing a 27% commission on external payments—a move the judge deemed a willful violation. To give a sense of the impact of this monopoly tax on developers, for every $100 spent on the ultra-popular videogame Roblox, app stores make $22 in almost pure profit and the developer loses $35.

Thanks to this decision, Apple is now forced to allow developers to direct users to cheaper payment options and third-party stores. This openness is similar to the benefits enjoyed by citizens of the European Union thanks to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). But unless Canada takes action, it’s unlikely any of this relief will reach Canadian developers or users.

Without legal or legislative pressure, Apple has no incentive to extend fairer terms north of the border. The remedy is clear: Canada must bring its own antitrust case or adopt a proactive digital markets framework. Otherwise, we risk becoming a digital backwater, locked into the monopolized status quo while others move ahead.

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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