Interim Commissioner of Competition John Pecman and Senior Deputy Commissioner of Mergers Kelley McKinnon recently attended a breakfast seminar at Stikeman Elliott, to speak to an overflow crowd of clients and to answer questions related to their visions for the future of the Competition Bureau.
Lawson A.W. Hunter Q.C., Susan M. Hutton and Michael Kilby -
On April 29, 2013, the Government of Canada tabled its budget implementation bill, the Economic Action Plan 2013 Act, which includes proposed amendments to the Investment Canada Act (ICA), particularly in relation to state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Given that the amendments are contained in the budget bill, it again appears that there will be little or no opportunity to debate substantively the merits of the amendments or to revise them before they become law. This is not the first time amendments to the Investment Canada Act have been made within the budget bill. In 2009, extensive amendments were made to both the Investment Canada Act and the Competition Act in that year’s budget bill, and were passed without revision. The significance of both the Investment Canada Act and the Competition Act to the Canadian economy is such that the practice of amending these statutes without the opportunity for full consultation and reflection from all stakeholders increases the risk of unfortunate and unintended consequences.
The proposed amendments follow the Government’s December 7, 2012 announcements in relation to SOEs in the context of its approval of CNOOC/Nexen and Petronas/Progress. As outlined in detail in our previous blog post on the subject, the December 7 announcements set out several new concepts, including:
Continue Reading...Susan M. Hutton and Solène Murphy -
April 3, 2013 the Ontario Court of Appeal released its reasons for decision in R v. Dowdall, affirming the Superior Court’s earlier decision to commit 17 defendants to stand trial on charges of bid-rigging under s.47 of the Competition Act. The defendants had argued that tenders submitted to pre-qualify as approved suppliers, or to create a standing order, if and when such services were required, was not a “bid or tender” and thus fell outside the ambit of the prohibition against bid-rigging.
Both the Superior Court and Court of Appeal agreed that the preliminary inquiry judge reasonably concluded that there was some evidence that the process of obtaining a Standing Offer Agreement was contractual and could be considered a “request for bids or tenders” under the bid-rigging offence.
Continue Reading...On April 15, 2013, the Competition Tribunal dismissed the Competition Bureau’s application (the Application) against Canada’s largest real estate board, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB). The Tribunal found that the abuse of dominance provision under section 79 of the Competition Act (the Act) did not apply to the facts of the case, which pertained to TREB’s membership rules governing the use of its Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data.
The Bureau’s May 27, 2011 application requested that TREB eliminate rules allegedly denying its real estate agent members the ability to introduce Internet-based real estate brokerage services by limiting the use the members could make of the MLS listings and related data.
Continue Reading...Susan M. Hutton, Paul Beaudry and Solene Murphy -
On February 25, 2013, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) released its decision upholding the Competition Tribunal’s Order requiring that Tervita Corporation (formerly known as CCS Corporation) divest the Babkirk hazardous waste landfill site in northeastern British Columbia following its acquisition of Complete Environmental Inc. The decision provides guidelines for determining a reasonable period of time for likely market entry in a “prevent” case, as well as clearer guidance on what is “in” and what is “out” for a section 96 efficiencies defense. It also marks a rare challenge to a closed, and non-notifiable transaction.
Background
In February 2010, Complete received regulatory approval to open the Babkirk landfill. Construction had not yet commenced when Tervita acquired the site from Complete. At the time of the transaction, Tervita operated the only two operational secure landfills for hazardous waste in British Columbia. The Commissioner of Competition therefore alleged that the transaction substantially prevented competition in hazardous waste landfill in northeastern B.C.
Continue Reading...Parties considering retail mergers should take note of the approach that the Canadian Competition Bureau took in analyzing the proposed acquisition of The Brick Ltd. and its subsidiaries (The Brick) by Leon’s Furniture Limited (Leon’s). Stikeman Elliott LLP has experience acting as competition counsel in a number of retail mergers, including the recent acquisition by Canadian Tire of Forzani, in which the Bureau took a similar approach. Both retail merger reviews highlighted the key role of econometrics in the Bureau’s assessment of whether the merged entity will have the ability to increase prices.
On March 19, 2013, the Bureau released a position statement in respect of the merger of the two national retailers of furniture, mattresses, appliances and electronics. The Commissioner of Competition issued a “no action letter” to Leon’s and The Brick on March 11, 2013, meaning the merger will not be challenged. The Bureau’s review focused on the potential competitive effects in the retailing of furniture and mattresses. Leon’s and The Brick were viewed as particularly close competitors in respect of furniture and mattresses, with a high degree of differentiation from other competitors.
Continue Reading...On February 5, 2013 the federal government tabled amendments to the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) which, if passed, would give Canada a much broader reach and pose a more serious threat to Canadians and Canadian businesses who attempt to gain a business advantage through bribery. These amendments are evidence of the Government’s tougher approach to enforcement of the CFPOA in recent years, as witnessed already by prosecutions of Niko Resources in 2011 and more recently of Griffiths Energy, both of which pled guilty to offences under the Act (see below for more details). In some ways, the CFPOA will now be tougher than its US counterpart.
Generally speaking, the CFPOA prohibits giving or offering to give a benefit of any kind to a foreign public official, or any other person for the benefit of the foreign public official, where the ultimate purpose is to obtain or retain a business advantage.
Continue Reading...Susan M. Hutton and Robert Mysicka -
Recent remarks by Canada’s Interim Commissioner, John Pecman, reinforce the view that the Bureau is pursuing all avenues available to it under the Competition Act to fulfill its mandate of investigating and challenging civil and/or criminal anti-competitive practices. In this respect, the interim Commissioner noted three of the Bureau’s priorities going forward:
In addition to these priorities, Mr. Pecman noted that the Bureau would assist in providing clarification on the Act’s price maintenance provisions, issues that have arisen in the context of electronic document production, the Bureau’s leniency program for those that cooperate in criminal investigations, and investigative procedures.
Continue Reading...Investment Canada – The Year of the State-Owned Enterprise
2012 proved to be a highly eventful year for foreign investment law in Canada. Although numerous foreign investments by SOEs in the Canadian energy sector had received foreign investment approvals in recent years1, the summer of 2012 saw the announcement of two multi-billion dollar energy transactions involving SOEs that collectively posed an unprecedented test for the Investment Canada Act and for Canadian policymakers. In June, Petronas (the Malaysian state-owned oil company) announced its $6 billion acquisition of Progress Energy. At the time, this was the largest-ever proposed acquisition of a Canadian company by a state-owned enterprise. But that record did not stand for long: just a month later, in July, CNOOC Limited (a majority Chinese state-owned oil company)announced its $15 billion acquisition of Nexen.
These proposed acquisitions became the subject of intense scrutiny in the national media throughout the summer and fall, and indeed attracted attention in the business press globally, particularly in Asia. With few exceptions, large-scale M&A activity in the Canadian oil patch ground to a halt in the fall of 2012 as market participants stood still and held their collective breath pending the outcome of the government reviews of these proposed foreign investments. Tension was only heightened in October when the Minister of Industry rejected the Petronas transaction on a preliminary basis, immediately recalling the rejection of BHP Billiton’s hostile bid for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan less than two years earlier.
Continue Reading...The thresholds for review of acquisitions involving Canadian businesses will soon increase under both the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act.
The Competition Bureau announced on January 8, 2013 that the “transaction size” threshold for review of acquisitions under the Competition Act will increase from the 2012 threshold of CDN$77 million to CDN$80 million. The 2013 threshold is anticipated to come into effect on or about January 12, 2013.
The transaction-size threshold is based on the book value of assets in Canada of the target (or in the case of assets, of the assets in Canada being acquired), or the gross revenues from sales “in or from” Canada generated by those assets, calculated in accordance with the Notifiable Transactions Regulations under the Competition Act. The Competition Act threshold is indexed annually to account for inflation. The ”size of parties” threshold remains constant at CDN$400 million.
Continue Reading...Susan M. Hutton and Robert Mysicka -
On January 3, 2013 the Competition Bureau issued a No-Action Letter in respect of the acquisition by Canadian film distributor Entertainment One Ltd. (eOne) of its competitor, Alliance Films Holdings Inc. (Alliance), indicating that the Commissioner does not, at this time, intend to challenge the proposed acquisition pursuant to section 92 of the Competition Act.
In its statement concerning the proposed acquisition of Alliance by eOne, the Bureau indicated that the parties are significant competitors for film distribution in Canada but that the distribution of Canadian films constitutes a distinct product market due to various government cultural initiatives and funding programs. In particular, in order to qualify for government funding available for Canadian productions (a significant source of total funding), the producer must use a Canadian distributor, and government funding requirements limit the ability of the distributor to lower minimum guarantees or increase distribution fees. Notwithstanding the substantial share of the combined companies in that market, therefore, the Bureau concluded that the government policies in place would render a substantial lessening or prevention of competition unlikely and that in any event, there was effective remaining competition for the distribution of non-Canadian films.
Continue Reading...On December 14, 2012, the Competition Bureau announced that it had withdrawn criminal charges related to the breach of a consent agreement in a waste-collection company merger due to the accidental leak of privileged information during the course of the Bureau’s investigation.
The Bureau said in its statement that on September 19, 2012, it “became aware of an unfortunate procedural error, where certain information subject to solicitor-client privilege had been inadvertently shared with investigators.” As previously covered on this blog, on September 11, 2012, the Bureau laid criminal charges against Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd. and its subsidiary BFI Canada Inc. (known together as Progressive). The Bureau alleged that Progressive had violated the terms of a consent agreement it had entered into with the Bureau in 2010. The Bureau concluded at the time that the merger would result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition in the waste collection market in several Canadian cities.
Continue Reading...On December 17, the Competition Bureau released a position statement summarizing the approach it had taken in analyzing two proposed vertical mergers (i.e., mergers between firms at different levels of a supply chain) in the pork industry. Both proposed mergers involve the acquisition of a large Western Canadian hog producer by a company that sells finished food products (pork cuts) to consumers: Olymel L.P. plans to acquire Big Sky Farms Inc. and Maple Leaf Foods Inc. plans to acquire Puratone Corporation. The Bureau decided not to challenge either merger.
The key concerns considered by the Bureau, and its conclusions about each, were:
Continue Reading...Robert Mysicka and Graeme Deuchars -
On December 7, 2012, the Competition Bureau announced that charges have been laid against five individuals for violations of the Criminal Code of Canada and of the Competition Act, in relation to tactics used in two Montréal-based telemarketing operations.
The charges arose out of a 2006 investigation by the Competition Bureau in partnership with the Centre of Operations Linked to Telemarketing Fraud (COLT), a joint forces operation between a number of Canadian and American law enforcement authorities. The investigation revealed two telemarketing operations in Montréal promoting the sale of office supplies and medical kits to Canadian and American businesses that allegedly utilized misleading or fraudulent tactics, including implying that the caller represented a business that had an existing relationship with the victim’s company, indicating that certain products or services were required under government rules, or implying that the call was being made on behalf of a government agency Five individuals were charged with defrauding the public in excess of $5,000 contrary to section 380(1) of the Criminal Code. In addition, four of these individuals were charged under the Competition Act with making false or misleading representations during telemarketing calls.
Section 52.1(3) of the Competition Act is a criminal provision that prohibits making materially false or misleading representations in promoting the supply or use of a product or business interest during interactive telephone communications (telemarketing). Contraventions of the Competition Act’s telemarketing provisions carry a maximum penalty on indictment of a fine in the discretion of the court, and/or up to 14 years imprisonment.
Canada's Prime Minister sent a clear message today that the country remains open to foreign investment, including investment on a significant scale by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in certain circumstances. However, continued acquisitions by SOEs of controlling interests in the oil sands industry has been largely constrained and will be found to be of net benefit to Canada only on an exceptional basis going forward. The acquisition by SOEs of non-controlling interests, including joint ventures, will continue to be welcome.
The Prime Minister's address followed the announcement by the Minister of Industry, which was communicated by way of press release, of:
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