IM-Dachis_2023_0330.pub

The Council has repeatedly stated that competition law has the teeth to oversee digital marketplace, and the Bureau already has the “toolkit” to handle big tech. [...] An approach proposed by Edward Iacobucci, Cal Goldman and others offers a middle ground, which eases the evidentiary burden on the Bureau Clarity on the legal tests that the Bureau applies to company behaviour is important, including in difficult to tackle areas such as nascent competitors and winner-take-all markets. [...] Canada’s legal principles of requiring the losers of litigation paying the legal costs of the winner may discourage meritless private action but do not address the potential for private parties to file claims in an effort to extract settlements in lieu of costly litigation. [...] Finally, and before you grant any additional powers to the Bureau, both the Council and former Commissioner of Competition George Addy have repeatedly called for greater oversight of the Competition Bureau. [...] One type of study some on the Council would prioritize are retrospective studies of past enforcement action and remedies to generate lessons to be learned for future enforcement, as opposed to speculative market studies.