Finance committee  You're right. There's a wide academic literature on the effect of mergers on factors like prices, and it's not limited to that: it also includes things like quality and innovation. What we see, I think, is mounting evidence that we need to have this bias against mergers, especially in already concentrated markets.

Finance committee  This is analytical work that we need to engage in, but in the U.S., there's been evidence of highly concentrated labour markets. We might think about rural or remote communities, but it's even in relatively large urban centres. What we need to think about, with Canada having relatively high levels of concentration and more oligopolies than our friends in the U.S., is that it would make sense that the effect is the same or is magnified, such that workers are limited and can be, prior to changes, frozen out through no-poaching agreements and wage-fixing agreements.

Finance committee  Thank you so much to the committee for inviting me to speak today on this important piece of legislation. As you said, my name is Keldon Bester. I'm the executive director at CAMP, a think tank dedicated to addressing the harms caused by monopoly and building a more democratic economy in Canada.

Finance committee  I am the executive director of CAMP, a Canadian think tank dedicated to addressing issues caused by monopoly power in Canada. This is an exciting time for competition policy in Canada, and CAMP is glad to see parties across Parliament putting forward plans to strengthen Canada’s competition law and protect affordability for Canadians.

Finance committee  Section 90.1 is the part of the act that governs anti-competitive agreements. Both CAMP and the bureau have commented on this in the past couple of years. The way the provision is phrased right now, it can only look at existing agreements. Along with that, it has no formal penalties associated with it.

Finance committee  Certainly. There are two parts to this. One is the ability for parties to collect damages. Again, I use the term “eyes on the ground”. The bureau has something like 400 people. They're responsible for every market across the economy. The second piece of that is the standard for leave to the tribunal.

Finance committee  As I said, I think this act is an investment in the future of competition in markets much beyond grocery. We've seen a particular focus on anti-competitive agreements. With the restrictive covenants, clearly there is an onus on grocery, but I think the great part about the Competition Act is the economy-wide framework.