The following item was prepared by my colleagues Jim Dinning and David Feldman In the annual Davies forecast of the year ahead for Canadian competition law, we discuss the top five issues and trends to watch for in Canadian competition law this year. 1. New Leadership at the Bureau and a Year of Transition 2018…

By Daniel Schwarz, Clifford Chance, and Mark Katz, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg   Introduction With the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) having finally been signed by the EU and Canada on October 30, 2016, it’s worth exploring what it says about competition law and policy and how it may impact these issues on both…

By Mark Katz, Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and Joseph Adler, Hoffer Adler LLP INTRODUCTION The Canadian franchise industry constitutes an important sector of the Canadian economy. The industry employs one in every 35 Canadian, generates approximately CDN$68 billion in revenues, and covers a wide variety of businesses (60% of franchisees are in non-food…

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…