Maybe I'll put it in some context. The Competition Act is a law of general application. We look at mergers in every industry you can imagine under the sun. In a given year, we would review anywhere from 200 to 250 mergers. Every single one of those cases is evaluated based on the facts and evidence we get from the marketplace. For any given merger review, we would interview all sorts of relevant stakeholders, review internal company business records, and when required, look at the data to inform our decision.
With respect to the newspaper industry in particular, like a lot of other industries in Canada, it has evolved. You're right. Market forces are such that companies need to innovate and change. Consumers' habits are changing as well, and we're seeing shifts. I can tell you that, at the bureau, we try to stay on top of those changes as much as we possibly can so that every single one of our merger reviews is well informed as to where the market is now and where it could be headed in the future.
Changing consumer habits are something that impacts a lot of industries outside of newspapers as well. The best we can do is make the most informed decision we can at that point in time regarding the competitive impact of a merger. A large part of that involves defining the relevant markets as well, which enables us to calculate market shares. Under the law, we cannot challenge a merger on market shares alone. We have to look at barriers to entry, the nature of effective remaining competition, and the nature of change and innovation in the marketplace, and ultimately come to a landing with respect to a merger of whether it substantially lessens or prevents competition. Our mandate is to look at a merger, answer that question, and react accordingly.
The newspaper industry is one where we've had recent experience reviewing transactions, and I think we are very mindful of the changing nature of the marketplace.