June 15, 2025

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 instalment we have:

• A new CAMP discussion paper shines a light on Canada’s digital gatekeeper crisis
• The Competition Bureau sues DoorDash for misleading “drip pricing” practices
• Are Canada’s Big Banks to blame for Canada’s sluggish economic dynamism?

Now let’s dive in.

CAMP Discussion Paper: Confronting Canada’s Gatekeeper Crisis

Amid a worsening relationship with the United States, several assumptions about the Canadian economy taken for granted for decades are now in need of reassessment. The situation is particularly urgent in key digital markets where a handful of American firms dominate. Exploring this topic, this week CAMP released a new discussion paper: Confronting Canada’s Gatekeeper Crisis, advancing our study of the risk that American tech dominance poses for Canada’s economic and national security.

Scanning three markets critical to the present and future of the modern economy – online advertising, cloud computing infrastructure, and artificial intelligence (AI) – we see a recurring pattern of monopolization by American giants. But yesterday’s monopoly problem is now compounded with the increasingly likely risk that this monopolization becomes a point of leverage in Canada’s interactions with the U.S. government.

Online advertising is effectively a duopoly market split between Google and Meta, with systems that create huge aftermarkets for personal data, with implications for personal privacy and national security. Cloud computing infrastructure is the base of our digitized, service economy, and if you operate a business or even a government department you’re likely relying on either Amazon, Microsoft, or Google. Our economy depends on their continued availability and if the use of this infrastructure is leveraged against Canada, we’ll have few places to turn. While still an emerging field, AI products from companies like OpenAI already shows the potential to shape Canadians access to information in ways that benefit its owners rather than its users.

How we access information, connect with one another, and do business in Canada is increasingly mediated by a handful of gatekeepers headquartered outside our borders. For decades, we assumed we had a stable ally and that this integration would benefit our economy and society. Now Canadians must consider a world where these assumptions no longer hold.

📰CAMP in the News📰

• ​Competition Bureau sues DoorDash over misleading fees (CBC’s The National)

Competition Bureau Sues DoorDash for Deceptive Drip Pricing

Have you ever been annoyed to find out that the $10 breakfast sandwich you ordered to your door somehow ended up costing you $30? This week, Canada’s Competition Bureau filed a lawsuit against food delivery company Doordash, alleging that the company’s slow rolling and potential misrepresenting of fees amounts to a deceptive marketing practise.

​“Drip-pricing” is the practice of adding fees throughout the purchase process so that customers end up paying more than the price they were advertised. DoorDash has a laundry list of these: delivery fees, surge pricing, extended range fees, small order fees, and “regulatory response fees.” The Bureau argues DoorDash should present customers with the true cost of items when they decide to buy them. What fees they charge is the company’s business, but those costs should be transparent and given up front.

DoorDash has already run into problems misleading customers about the fees they charge and where that money goes. In February, the New York attorney general’s office settled a $17 Million lawsuit against DoorDash for pocketing the tips given to drivers and using them to offset their base pay. Both cases highlight the potential for manipulation when pricing decisions are offloaded to algorithms that are opaque to both customers and employees, something the Bureau is currently consulting the public on.

The Bureau case is an important defense of transparent pricing and fair competition. When companies are allowed to compete on prices they can’t offer, companies that are up front with customers are put at a competitive disadvantage. While the Bureau’s case may not make your next breakfast sandwich cheaper, it will lessen the shock when you happen to check the receipt.

📚What We’re Reading📚

• Bednar and Hearn, How Competition Policy Can Drive Canada’s Growth and Fairness Agenda (Policy Options)
• Bergeron, Postes Canada PrimeTM, ou comment transformer notre société d’État en avantage compétitif national (Le Devoir)
• Whittaker, Major US Grocery Distributor Warns of Disruption after Cyberattack (TechCrunch)

Big Banks to Blame for Banal Business Climate

When you think of innovation and dynamism, the last thing that comes to mind is one of Canada’s big banks, and that may be dragging down our economy. In a new piece this week for the Globe and Mail, Professor J. Ari Pandes and Senator Colin Deacon explore the role of Canada’s Big Six banks in Canada’s stagnant commercial landscape. Holding most of Canada’s money, these banks control over 90% of Canada’s banking, and are an important source of capital for new and growing companies, whether through corporate loans or underwriting companies going public.

The authors argue that the conservatism of these giants has led them to neglect emerging technology companies, creating hurdles for firms to seek capital or go public with an IPO. When you’re already on top, why bother with the risk? It is a lot easier to make profits by charging high fees for middling service and underwriting mortgages. If we want to hold our own against the United States and forge new trading relationships across the world, we’ll need strong firms creating new and innovative products and services. This means having entrepreneurial institutions that are willing to take on the risk of helping these firms grow.

Whether for lower fees, better service, or more active capital markets, CAMP has been pushing for a more competitive banking sector since our founding. With Prime Minister Carney’s central bank background and experience with FinTech firms like Stripe, Canada is well positioned to break out of this pattern of stagnation.

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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