Bills to reform Canada’s competition law and introduce cabinet rights to block investments that threaten national security received Royal Approval a week ago.

All of the major changes in these reforms earned widespread approval from the CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. Given the enthusiasm of the panel for all the reforms on which their opinions were solicited, it is difficult to single out any as receiving particular support. Nonetheless, provisions that appeared to have teeth appeared to resonate even more than the others. The three provisions that elicit the most agreement are as follows:

• “Bid rigging is defined more broadly to include conspiracy to have bids withdrawn”;
• “The law will criminalize cartel behaviour in the spirit of the U.S. Sherman Act, notably when competitors collaborate to fix prices, allocate territories, or control supply”; and
• “Those who have suffered loss as a result of a violation of any criminal provision of the Competition Act will be able to sue to recover actual damages.”

These are the key findings from this past week’s Internet survey of CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS panel. The weekly business survey is undertaken for Canadian Business magazine under sponsorship of BDO Dunwoody LLP.

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