HERE IS AN ARTICLE BY MY COLLEAGUES ANITA BANICEVIC AND JOHN BODRUG ON A RECENT CASE IN WHICH THE CANADIAN AND U.S. AUTHORITIES REACHED DIFFERENT CONCLUSIONS ON A MERGER BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRIES’ DIFFERENT LEGAL STANDARDS On June 28, 2016, Canada’s Competition Bureau announced that it had cleared Superior Plus Corporation’s acquisition of Canexus Corporation…

Mark Katz and Alysha Manji-Knight Introduction Combatting corruption in public procurement is a top enforcement priority of the Canadian government. Canada’s Competition Bureau (“Bureau”) plays a major role in this effort, through its investigation and prosecution of cartel offences under the Competition Act (“Act”). Another key weapon in this battle is the Canadian government’s “Integrity…

Mark Katz and Alysha Manji Introduction Since its arrival in Canada in 2012, Uber has generated heated discussion among affected interests, notably the established taxi industry, regulatory bodies overseeing the industry, and municipal and provincial governments responsible for putting the existing regulatory frameworks into place. In an effort to stave off the impact of its…

On March 29, 2016, the Canadian Commissioner of Competition and Parkland Fuel Corp. entered into a consent agreement to resolve the Commissioner’s challenge to Parkland’s acquisition of Pioneer Energy. This marks the first time in a Canadian Competition Tribunal proceeding that a consent agreement has been negotiated through mediation. The consent agreement includes not only…

by Anita Banicevic and Mark Katz[1] 2015 saw a number of interesting developments in cartel enforcement in Canada, the most important of which were setbacks suffered by Canada’s competition authorities in two high profile prosecutions. We discuss these and other developments below, following a brief overview of the cartel enforcement regime in Canada. Cartel Enforcement…

Introduction The Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34 (“Competition Act”) requires that mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations that meet certain prescribed thresholds be notified to the Commissioner of Competition (“Commissioner”), the head of the federal Competition Bureau (“Bureau”), before they can be completed. A notification must be filed by each party to a notifiable…

I. INTRODUCTION In June 2015, Canada’s Competition Bureau released its updated draft of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines (“Draft IPEGs”) for public review and consultation. The Draft IPEGs are intended to reflect the 2009 amendments to the Competition Act (the “Act”), including the changes to the criminal conspiracy provisions and the introduction of a new…

Canada’s Commissioner of Competition is armed with a variety of compulsory powers that he can use in pursuing investigations. One such power is the ability, with the permission of a court, to subpoena documents and information under section 11 of the Canadian Competition Act. Of late, the Commissioner has been using such orders quite extensively,…

By Anita Banicevic and Mark Katz On October 14, 2015, the Canadian Competition Bureau announced that it had reached a Consent Agreement with Bell Canada to resolve the Bureau’s concerns regarding reviews posted by Bell employees for two Bell applications (apps) that were available from the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store. The…

Company H.R. functions, such as recruitment and compensation, are not typically regarded as antitrust “hot spots” (as opposed to sales and marketing). Recent cases in the United States, however, highlight how hiring practices can create the risk of competition law violations for companies and their H.R. personnel. Since Canadian competition law is similar to U.S….