Competition Bureau Should Not Have Power to Compel Information for Market Studies

Report of the C.D. Howe Institute Competition Policy Council

 

The Competition Bureau should not have the ability to obtain orders to compel Canadian businesses to produce information for use in a market study, according to the majority view of the C.D. Howe Institute’s Competition Policy Council, which held its thirteenth meeting on April 17, 2017. Such investigatory orders could result in significant costs for Canadian businesses. Council members were also of the view that the Competition Bureau has not identified how previous market studies were systematically deficient or that information obtained voluntarily from market study participants was inadequate so as to justify the potentially significant costs arising from investigatory orders.