Canadian Bar Association Competition Fall Law Conference
September 2024
(As prepared for delivery)
Good afternoon.
I'm pleased to be back here with you again this year for the Fall Competition Law Conference.
I would like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered today on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People.
We do so as Fall's spectacular colours take hold here. And a centerpiece of that seasonal transformation-here and across much of Canada-is the maple tree.
The growth of the maple tree gives us a good analogy for change: including the dramatic ones in competition law in Canada that I'm going to talk to you about today.
You see, early on, maples grow upward…really fast. And then they expand outward to create their large canopy.
The evolution of competition law in Canada has charted a similar course.
That's why today, I'm here to talk about the recent series of amendments made to the Competition Act. About what these changes mean for lawyers and the clients that many of you represent. And what it means for all Canadians. I'll also talk about what doesn't change with these recent reforms. So let's get started.
The new era
Before the recent amendments to the Competition Act, in 2021, the Government made significant investments in the Bureau's budget to enhance our ability to enforce the law and advocate for more competition.
This has allowed us to tool up to meet the needs of Canada's modern economy. This includes creating our Digital Enforcement and Intelligence Branch, which is leveraging data and technology to support our work in enforcement and competition promotion
However, despite these new resources, we lacked the legislative tools to take the kind of enforcement action that Canadians, and parliamentarians, expect.
As you know, since 2022, there have been three waves of amendments to Canada's competition law. To name but a few of the highlights:
- It started in 2022 with the criminalization of wage-fixing and no-poaching agreements and increasing maximum fines and penalties.
- Then in 2023, the outdated efficiencies defense was scrapped, the rules around abuse of dominance were strengthened, and the Bureau was granted formal market study powers.
- And, earlier this year, the Bureau was given more effective merger controls, including the introduction of structural presumptions, and stronger deceptive marketing provisions, that target bogus discount claims, drip pricing and unsupported environmental claims.
That's a lot of change over two short years.
Not surprisingly, Canada's legal community took notice and has been actively assessing the impacts of these wide-ranging changes. From that, came a growing consensus that we are now in "a new era" of competition law, of compliance and of enforcement.
Words used by many of you, in your bulletins, to describe these changes have included - "landmark", "transformative", a "sea-change", and my favourite - "breathtaking".
