Re: Bill C-352, Lowering Prices for Canadians Act Ongoing Competition Law Reform and Overlapping Amendments

The CBA is a national association of 38,000 lawyers, Québec notaries, law teachers and students, with a mandate to promote improvements in the law and the administration of justice. [...] Bill C-352 must be examined in light of the significant amendments that have recently been implemented by the enactment of Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act on December 15, 2023 and proposed amendments in Bill C-59, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act (currently at second reading in the House of Commons). [...] The significant amendments to the Competition Act in Bill C-56 include market study powers for the Commissioner of Competition, repeal of the efficiencies exceptions for anti-competitive mergers and collaborations, revisions to the legal test for abuse of dominance and amendment to the legal test addressing business collaborations with an anti-competitive purpose and increased financial penalties. [...] Section 92(2) of the Competition Act states that the Competition Tribunal cannot find that a merger is likely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition solely on the basis of evidence of concentration or market share. [...] The Competition Bureau has said that the repeal of section 92(2) is “a minimum initial step towards a structural presumption” that “would permit, but not require, the Tribunal to adopt structural presumptions” and “most likely result in the Tribunal placing greater weight on evidence of high market share and concentration than it has to date.”1 Bill C-352 would require the Competition Tribunal to.