Shoppers’ Choice: The Evolution of Retailing in the Digital Age
The explosive growth of online shopping is reshaping Canadian retail by empowering consumers with unprecedented choice, driving omnichannel innovation, and intensifying competition. Legault, Brown – Four Design Flaws in Ottawa’s Underutilized Housing Tax
From: Guy Legault and Keith Brown To: Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland Date: December 8, 2021 Re: Four Design Flaws in Ottawa’s Underutilized Housing Tax Last April’s federal budget contained a number of announcements relating to future tax changes. One tax proposal that did not attract much media attention or scrutiny was the government’s plan (originally announced in the 2020 […] Paul Johnson – A Competition Conundrum: Winner-Take-All Markets
From: Paul Johnson To: Competition Policy Watchers Date: November 29, 2021 Re: A Competition Conundrum: Winner-Take-All Markets The populist backlash against “bigness” generally and “big tech” in particular has prompted two strands of debate about competition law enforcement. The first is broad and concerns foundational questions about what competition policy should strive to do; the second is narrower and […] We don’t need new competition laws for Big Tech – Financial Post Op-Ed
Canada’s competition laws do not need to be fundamentally rewritten for “big tech.” The best approach to ensuring Canadians benefit from digitization lies, not in devising new competition principles targeting a few large players, but in modernizing the application of principles we already have.
Data has always been at the heart of relations between businesses and their customers and suppliers. There has also always been a market for the attention of potential customers. What digital technologies have done is massively enhance our ability to collect and analyze this kind of data. Businesses can reach customers and suppliers on a previously unimagined scale, yet with pinpoint precision, an effect called “mass customization.”…
Benjamin Dachis – Ontario Government Shutting Down the Electricity Price Casino
To: Ontario Electricity Watchers From: Benjamin Dachis Date: November 15, 2021 Re: Ontario Government Shutting Down the Electricity Price Casino Early this month, the Ontario government quietly announced plans to create a pilot “interruptible rate” for large industrial electricity customers. This is good news for customers and for a system that needs to rationalize its pricing regime. The […] Jon Johnson – Section 232 Tariffs – Pathway to Climate Protection or Managed Trade?
From: Jon Johnson To: US Trade Policy Observers Date: November 11, 2021 Re: Section 232 Tariffs – Pathway to Climate Protection or Managed Trade? On October 30, the US and the EU announced a deal that replaces Trump-era US tariffs on EU steel and aluminum under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 […] Dillon, Gullo – Canada Needs to Get Serious on Carbon Capture
From: John Dillon and Michael Gullo To: Department of Finance Date: November 10, 2021 Re: Canada Needs to Get Serious on Carbon Capture COP 26 has challenged all countries to deliver ambitious plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In Canada, businesses, public institutions and consumers all have a role. Canada’s public […] John Pecman – Competition Law Is Not the Place to Fight Big Tech
From: John Pecman To: Canadians Concerned about Competition Date: November 8, 2021 Re: Competition Law Is Not the Place to Fight Big Tech The rocket-like rise of the tech titans has triggered a competition policy response from many of Canada’s largest trading partners, largely owing to populist angst over alleged market power and privacy concerns. In Europe and the […] Do we need new competition laws for Big Tech? – Financial Post Op-Ed
The rocket-like rise of the tech titans has triggered a competition policy response from many of Canada’s largest trading partners, largely owing to populist angst over alleged market power and privacy concerns. In Europe and the United States, myriad proposals driven by a “big is bad” mantra seek new laws and regulations to tame the more successful digital platform companies. Traditional laissez-faire policies that have enabled unprecedented economic growth face the prospect of a deep chill should these proponents succeed in creating greater marketplace equality for businesses at the expense of consumer welfare. Competition rules that would punish successful enterprises to pursue nebulous notions of “fairness” put at risk incentives…
A Passport to Success: How Credit Unions Can Adapt to the Urgent Challenges They Face
Credit Unions Must Go Big on Digital, Scale up to Thrive Credit unions face urgent challenges in the digital revolution, including the need for large new investments in technology and room to expand, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. With the digital revolution underway, most credit unions outside of Quebec are […] There’s a more practical way to regulate Big Tech – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
As the refreshed Trudeau minority government pushes forward with what we presume will be revised versions of Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault’s controversial bills C-10 and C-36, we suggest it pause, breathe and consider a more poised approach.
The problems with online harms legislation (C-36) are being revealed through the responses of numerous civil and human-rights organizations. The issues connected to C-10 are more firmly embedded within the public memory because of the controversy that ensued last spring when Mr. Guilbeault sought to grant the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) authority over the internet, including personal social-media posts. Its stated intent, while lacking in…
Balyk, Dachis, DeLand – Alberta’s Outdated Oil Sands Royalty Regime Needs a Fix
From: Joel Balyk, Benjamin Dachis and Charles DeLand To: Alberta oil royalty regulators Date: October 18, 2021 Re: Alberta’s Outdated Oil Sands Royalty Regime Needs a Fix Canada’s oil sands accounted for 63 percent of oil production in Canada in 2019, and their royalties have been the source of 7.7 percent of Alberta’s revenues since 2008. The province […]