CBA responds to Gover Report on Competition Bureau's Section 11 practices
On Thursday, September 4, 2008, the Canadian Bar Association - National Competition Law Section (CBA or the Section) sent a short - and in places critical - response to the report by Mr. Brian Gover to the Commissioner of Competition and the Deputy Minister of Justice regarding the Competition Bureau's practices in obtaining court orders for the production of information and documents under section 11 of the Competition Act.
The Report (dated June 19, 2008 and publicly released on August 12, 2008)1 had been commissioned by the government2 in response to the Federal Court's decision to set aside a section 11 order that had been issued ex parte in the Labatt/Lakeport merger inquiry3. The Court had found the Commissioner's affidavit evidence used to obtain the order to have been "misleading, inaccurate and incomplete." While her officials asserted that this conclusion was unfounded, the Commissioner and the Deputy Minister of Justice nonetheless asked Mr. Gover, a private practitioner with Stockwoods LLP, to review and advise on the standard of disclosure required in ex parte applications under the Competition Act, as well as on the Bureau's section 11 process generally.
