Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
My name is Jeanne Pratt, and I am the senior deputy commissioner of the Mergers and Monopolistic Practices Branch. With me today is my colleague, Anthony Durocher, who is the deputy commissioner of the Competition Promotion Branch.
The role and mandate of the commissioner of competition are clear. The commissioner administers and monitors the Competition Act for the benefit of all Canadians.
Protecting competition is essential to serving the interests of Canadian businesses and consumers, and to preserving our overall economic performance.
The merger provisions of the Competition Act are the first line of defence against the accumulation of market power.
Regarding Rogers and Shaw, the bureau conducted a comprehensive review of the evidence during our investigation. This included over 100 meetings with stakeholders and the collection and review of over three million records, as well as 7,800 submissions from the public.
On May 9, 2022, the commissioner filed an application with the Competition Tribunal under section 92 of the Competition Act, seeking to block the proposed merger. This action was taken because our position was that the transaction would likely harm millions of Canadians in Alberta and British Columbia through higher prices, lower-quality services and lost innovation.
At the tribunal, we argued that Shaw is a growing competitive force in Canada. When the proposed acquisition was announced, Shaw was poised to continue as an unmatched, disruptive force. The Competition Tribunal agreed with the commissioner that Shaw was about to launch 5G wireless services and expand their wireless services into new areas, reaching more Canadians. These plans were shelved with the announcement of the proposed Rogers-Shaw merger in March 2021.
On August 12, 2022, Rogers, Shaw, Videotron and Quebecor announced that they had entered into an agreement for the sale of Freedom Mobile. We took the position that the sale of Freedom to Videotron did not sufficiently address the anti-competitive effects of the merger. Videotron itself was not our concern. Rather, even with the divestiture, Videotron would not have the assets needed to compete as effectively as Shaw. Due to several long-term agreements, rather than having ownership and control over critical assets, Videotron would be reliant on their competitor, Rogers. This would reduce Videotron's incentive and ability to compete, and create avenues for Rogers to undermine the new Freedom's competitiveness.
On December 29, 2022, the Competition Tribunal dismissed our application. Yesterday, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed our appeal. We stand by the findings of our investigation and our decision to challenge the merger. We brought a strong, responsible case to the tribunal after conducting an exhaustive investigation. We continue to disagree with the tribunal's findings and are very disappointed. That said, we accept the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal yesterday, and we will not be seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.