Compas Poll / Survey

CEOs and business leaders on the COMPAS business panel were asked to assess the performance of the Competition Bureau in the wake of an independent review of the Bureau’s use of its powers of investigation.

The Bureau earns a bare passing grade for its overall performance. By a large margin, panelists believe that the Bureau has not investigated enough threats to competition while also believing that the Bureau’s style of investigation can be unfair and heavy-handed.

The recently released, independent review of the Bureau was undertaken after the Bureau’s controversial examination of a Labatt’s acquisition. By a large margin, panelists believe that the independent reviewer should have consulted with Labatts’ lawyers and not just those of the Bureau itself.

A sizeable majority of the panel believes that the Bureau should be more circumspect in using its powers of investigation. “The Competition Bureau,” say most respondents, “should normally consult companies whose acquisition(s) it is investigating before requesting a Court order for voluminous company information so that such requests are normally not made in secret.”

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.