Championing a more competitive Canadian economy, we research monopolized markets, the harms they cause to Canadians, and how to fix them.
Pushing Back on Private Equity
Private equity is the silent force increasingly shaping Canada’s economy. Rather than fostering growth, private equity firms are buying out mature firms, rolling up industries, and extracting value. The result? Higher prices, lower quality, job cuts and concentration of wealth. Operating largely out of sight from Canadians, private equity firms undermine competition and create a less productive economy.
To push back against this rise, Canada’s economy requires reforms to change the incentives that drive the most extractive versions of private equity. Stronger oversight, fairer regulations, and better disclosure practices to protect consumers and workers are all part of the solution.
CAMP works across multiple fronts to create an economy that we build up rather than buy out. Provided below are materials to help you understand the threat posed by private equity and what can be done about it.
A Fair and Balanced Food System
There are few markets more important than those that put food on the table of Canadians and allow Canadian farmers to make a decent living. While Canada’s concentrated grocery sector attracts the majority of headlines, the story of monopoly does not end at the check out counter.
Throughout the food system at home and abroad, consolidation has removed options for vulnerable producers and consumers. Key markets such as seeds, fertilizers, processing and transportation are dominated by a small handful of firms. When prices rise, these firms are able to take a disproportionate share of the winnings at the expense of producers and consumers.
Policy to balance power in Canada’s food system is key to creating a free, fair and democratic economy. CAMP works across a number of fronts to promote a food system that serves consumers as well as the people whose livelihoods depend on keeping us well fed.
Breaking Open Canada’s Banking Oligopoly
The backbone of any economy is an effective and well-functioning financial sector, and Canada is no exception to the rule. Banks provide savers a safe haven for their hard earned incomes, borrowers with the ability to make milestone purchases like a first home, and entrepreneurs with the capital they need to start and expand their businesses.
But Canada’s banking sector exhibits worrying trends across a number of metrics. Canada’s banking sector is highly concentrated, 90% market share. What’s more concentration is headed in the wrong direction with the recent 2023 acquisition of fiercely competitive HSBC Canada by RBC. Canada’s banks are also some of the most profitable on the planet, with their domestic banking outfits the most profitable segment of the business. Relative to international peers, Canadian banks have an outsized portion of their lending portfolios tied up in real estate rather than productive assets and businesses. Canada’s financial sector has also been slow to adopt technologies to enable competition and more efficient banking such as open banking protocols and modern payments infrastructure.
Each of these hallmarks of monopoly threatens to drag down the Canadian economy while our major banks bring home record breaking profits.
Concentration in the financial sector is the root of concentration in the broader economy, and breaking open its banking oligopoly will be a key step towards a more competitive Canada. CAMP and its allies are pushing for a break with the old view that sees concentrated and highly profitable banks as a welcome sign of stability rather than a threat to our economic future.
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