Mahi Sall, Advisor, Fintech-Bank Partnerships, Payments and Financial Inclusivity
January 25th, 2023
Mahi Sall is the CEO & Founder of FinXpair, a Berlin-based strategic advisory boutique firm focu[...]
Matthew Boswell, Commissioner of Competition, Pushes to Modernize the Competition Act
Stikeman | Peter Flynn | Oct 22, 2021
As the concluding attraction of this year’s Canadian Bar Association Competition Law Fall Conference, Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell gave a speech highlighting the Competition Bureau’s enforcement priorities for the year ahead. He underscored the Bureau’s view that “Canada needs more competition”, including through a comprehensive review of the Competition Act.
See: Canada’s Competition Problem: 7 Reasons
The highlights from the Commissioner’s speech are summarized below.
More Money for Increased Enforcement
In Budget 2021, the Canadian Government promised $96 million in funding over five years, and an additional $27.5 million on an ongoing basis, to enhance the Competition Bureau’s enforcement capacity.
In his speech, the Commissioner outlined the priority areas for the increased funding:
- the creation of a new Digital Enforcement and Intelligence Branch that will act as an “early-warning system” for competition issues in both the digital and traditional economies;
- strengthened enforcement teams (e., hiring more officers to conduct investigations, more lawyers to litigate cases, and more external experts to bolster the Bureau’s claims); and
- enhanced advocacy capacity, which in practice likely means an expanded Competition Promotion Branch to advocate for regulatory and other policy changes across Canada.
Advocating for Changes to the Competition Act
See:
Monopoly-Friendly Canada ‘Does Not Treat Competition Policy Seriously’
Biden Administration Issues Executive Order “Promoting Competition” Including Consumer Data Ownership and Banking.
The Commissioner highlighted perceived gaps in the Competition Act inhibiting effective enforcement of competition laws in today’s economy, including:
- weak maximum fines that are perceived as a cost of doing business rather than a meaningful deterrent to anti-competitive conduct;
- strict and impractical legal tests to prevent alleged anti-competitive mergers;
- the absence of private enforcement for certain anti-competitive behaviours; and
- weaknesses in the cartel provisions that allow “buy-side” agreements that are harmful to workers such as wage-fixing and no-poach agreements.
The Commissioner also repeated his long-held critique that the efficiencies defence in merger reviews (which provides that mergers cannot be blocked if they result in cost savings and other efficiencies that outweigh and offset their competitive harms) may not be working in the best interest of Canadians.
Continue to the full article --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
 |  |  |
Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada  |
Related Posts
ESG ratings are confounding. For CSOs, that’s good news- DWPV LLP: Department of Finance Releases Draft Tax Legislation to Promote Fairness and Clean Economy
- Intelex/TechConnex Golf Networking Event (Aug 19, 2015): Wooden Sticks Golf Club
- Why AI-driven financial advice is getting regulators’ attention
- New crowdfunding platforms coming to the US
- Business Innovation Summit (Apr 28-29, 2015): Connect, Collaborate, and Innovate Together
Leave a Reply