Competition Bureau

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

"The one that has the biggest opportunity to change the future of competition law going forward is opening up meaningful private access including damages to deter anti-competitive conduct, de-centralizing enforcement, keeping the Bureau prominent, but allowing individual companies to bring suits," Bester says. "The Bureau can't be everywhere, and the Bureau brings its own institutional thinking to how it approaches the law, so de-centralizing that is very important."

Under Mr. Boswell’s leadership, the bureau broke with tradition by submitting a public and extensive list of recommendations on competition law reform this past March, said Robin Shaban, co-founder and chair of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s proposed reforms to competition law are being welcomed by some advocates as a step toward making Canada’s corporate sector more competitive. Whether his move will quell voters’ frustration about prices is another matter.

"Merger talks between the owner of the Toronto Star and Postmedia have raised concerns that the deal could reduce media competition, but antitrust experts say the Competition Bureau is unlikely to oppose it."

"With an investigation continuing in the wake of Canada Bread's admission of guilt for its role in one of the country's largest price-fixing scandals, a document in the long-running case's court file suggest federal authorities believed that Maple Leaf Foods executive chair Michael McCain had personal knowledge of the alleged scheme."