Over the past 18 months, Canada has witnessed three successive waves of amendments to its Competition Act (Act) — certainly the most concerted effort to reform the statute in a generation. The backdrop for these changes has been more aggressive antitrust enforcement in the US and Europe, competition concerns tied to the rise of the digital economy and an affordability crisis in Canada that has focused political, and therefore popular, attention on industry concentration levels and perceived abuses. The Competition Bureau (Bureau) and Matthew Boswell, the Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner) who leads the Bureau, have also vociferously advocated for the Act’s modernization both to enhance the Bureau’s own enforcement powers and broaden many of the Act’s cornerstone provisions.

Please click here to download the report which offers a more detailed discussion on the amendments.

For more information on this topic, please reach out to co-authors Sandy Walker, Simon Kupi, Adam S. Goodman, Barry Zalmanowitz, Yulia Konarski and Camila Maldi.