John Pecman, Interim Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau of Canada
Friday April 5, 2013 - Toronto Roundtable Event - The Interim Commissioner of Competition's Priorities in Applying Canadian Competition Law
John Pecman is Interim Commissioner of Competition. The Commissioner is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Competition Act and three labelling statutes, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act and the Textile Labelling Act.
As head of the Canadian Competition Bureau, the Commissioner leads the Bureau's participation in international fora such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Competition Network (ICN), to develop and promote coordinated competition laws and policies in an increasingly globalized marketplace.
John Pecman is an economist with an M.A. from McMaster University. John has worked at the Competition Bureau as an investigator and manager for over 28 years. He has worked in every enforcement branch of the Bureau, and has held a variety of increasingly senior positions since joining the Bureau in 1984. Most recently, since 2008, John held the position of Senior Deputy Commissioner of Competition (EX-04) of the Criminal Matters Branch, where he was responsible for enforcing the price-fixing and bid-rigging provisions of the Competition Act.
As Senior Deputy Commissioner, John oversaw the Bureau's role in the retail gasoline cartel investigations in Ontario and Quebec, where multiple charges have been laid, guilty pleas have been entered and jail sentences have been imposed. Under John's leadership, the Criminal Matters Branch also worked closely with foreign competition authorities in the enforcement of multi-jurisdictional cartel cases, such as the Air Cargo and recent Foam price fixing conspiracies.
John is the former Chair of the Bureau's Enforcement and Policy Committee and is currently a Co-Chair of a Cartel Working Sub-Group on Investigative Techniques for the International Competition Network. His enforcement experience includes spending a number of years as the lead Bureau officer on the highly contested Superior Propane merger.
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