Benjamin Dachis – Supply Constraints Drive Housing Prices Spikes
From: Benjamin Dachis To: Steve Clark, Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Date: April 1, 2022 Re: Supply Constraints Drive Housing Prices Spikes This week’s announcement from the Ontario government of their planned actions on housing shows more is still needed to truly solve the housing cost crisis. And the Union of British Columbia […] Auto Insurance Value by Province: Who’s Leading, Who’s Lagging?
Auto insurance systems differ greatly across Canada. Which provinces stand out as the leaders in terms of providing value for money to policyholders? And which are most behind? Leading auto insurance expert David Marshall has produced a grade of each province in this Graphic Intelligence. The debate is not about whether government or private-delivered insurance […] Rosenthal, Rosner – Four Reasons to Abolish the Competition Tribunal
From: Julie Rosenthal and David Rosner To: François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Date: March 28, 2022 Re: Four Reasons to Abolish the Competition Tribunal Competition law in Canada is underdeveloped. This is particularly so for the law regarding “civilly reviewable conduct,” including the abuse of dominance (section 79) and competitor collaborations (section […] Gullo, Eaton, Schwanen – Let’s Stop Our Inter-Provincial Economic Friction
From: Michael Gullo, Michelle Eaton, Daniel Schwanen To: Canadians Concerned About Prosperity Date: March 21, 2022 Re: Let’s Stop Our Inter-Provincial Economic Friction If we can find a small silver lining in the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been the increased collaboration between orders of government; in particular, the federal government and its provincial and territorial counterparts. Fostering this collaboration […] The way Canada reviews foreign investments is out of date – iPolitics Op-Ed
Canada’s process for reviewing foreign investments is too opaque, and protects neither our economic nor our national-security interests.
Ottawa should therefore follow Washington’s lead and create a system wherein certain transactions must be cleared before an investment is ever made.
The timing couldn’t be better: Earlier this month, Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced a review of Canadian’s Competition Act. The minister should leverage this moment to create a tailor-made solution for foreign investment reviews, as well.
Rather than prioritizing national security, the current regime is more concerned with investors. Canadian companies and their advisers would all benefit…
Tim Brennan – Private Action in Competition Law: Cautionary Notes from South of the Border
From: Tim Brennan To: Competition Policy Watchers Date: March 9, 2022 Re: Private Action in Competition Law: Cautionary Notes from South of the Border In its extensive response last month to a Senate invitation to comment on potential changes to the competition law framework in Canada, the Competition Bureau called for expanding private access to […] Glen Hodgson – Flooding is Coming. What To Do?
From: Glen Hodgson To: Concerned Canadians Date: March 1, 2022 Re: Flooding is Coming. What To Do? The recent unprecedented flooding in BC has confirmed how unprepared we are for climate change and severe weather events. What can be done to help protect the value of physical assets from climate-driven flood risks – specifically housing and commercial buildings? More […] Benjamin Dachis – Crunch-Time for Housing in Ontario
From: Benjamin Dachis To: Canadian Home Buyers Date: February 24, 2022 Re: Crunch-Time for Housing in Ontario Bold reforms to boost Ontario’s housing supply were outlined this month in a task force report and it’s now up to the province to decide which recommendations to adopt. It would be wise to adopt as many as it can. The debate on […] Jon Johnson – Build Back Better Bill Facing Strong Opposition from Senate Republicans
From: Jon Johnson To: Canadian Trade Watchers Date: February 23, 2022 Re: Build Back Better Bill Facing Strong Opposition from Senate Republicans Earlier this year, I reported on European Union, Canadian and Mexican opposition to the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better Bill because of its discriminatory subsidies to purchasers of electric vehicles. Opposition has now been joined […] Peter Glossop – Efficiency Defence: Let’s Lose It
From: Peter Glossop To: Canada’s competition law community Date: February 17, 2022 Re: Efficiency Defence: Let’s Lose It The efficiency defence in section 96 of the Competition Act enables an anti-competitive merger to proceed if the efficiencies it generates are greater than and offset its anti-competitive effects. The efficiency defence primarily promotes the benefit to the economy of […] A Friend in High Places: A Proposal to Add a National Security Amicus to Canada’s Investment Review Regime
Investors facing a national security review under the Investment Canada Act receive little in the way of information during the process. The absence of information exposes the process to criticism from investors, vendors and the public. For investments that require a full national security review, the Canadian government should introduce a national security amicus to allow investors […] Larry Schwartz – The Evolution of the Efficiency Defence in Canada
To: Canada’s Competition Law Community From: Larry Schwartz Date: February 16, 2022 Re: The Evolution of the Efficiency Defence in Canada Successive Commissioners of Competition have called for significant changes or outright elimination of the “efficiency defence” in the Competition Act. No other G-7 country has followed Canada’s approach to efficiency in merger review, noted the current Commissioner recently. […]