INDU meeting 2 · 2025-09-17 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (INDU) met to discuss future committee business and hear from witnesses on the Competition Bureau's mandate. Appearing were Matthew Boswell, Commissioner of Competition; Anthony Durocher, Deputy Commissioner, Competition Promotion Branch; and Jeanne Pratt, Senior Deputy Commissioner, Mergers and Monopolistic Practices Branch.

Matthew Boswell outlined the Bureau's role in enforcing the Competition Act, highlighting recent amendments from Bills C-56 and C-59 that strengthened merger review and investigative powers. He noted the Bureau took legal action against companies like Rogers, DoorDash, and Google, and launched market studies on airline competition and SME lending. Boswell emphasized that competition drives productivity and affordability, but warned that Canada's competitive intensity has declined, requiring a whole-of-government approach.

Anthony Durocher discussed the Bureau's market study on airline competition, noting that Air Canada and WestJet control 56% to 78% of passenger share at major airports, and that adding one competitor on a route reduces prices by 9%. He recommended prioritizing competition in aviation policy, lowering foreign investment barriers, and improving contestability in northern markets. On grocery competition, Durocher highlighted progress on eliminating property controls, with Manitoba as a leader, and efforts to facilitate pricing comparisons for consumers.

Jeanne Pratt addressed the Rogers-Shaw merger, explaining that under the old framework, job losses could be considered an efficiency, but that Bills C-56 and C-59 now allow labour impacts to be considered in merger reviews. She noted the Bureau fought the merger under the previous rules, which limited its ability to protect workers directly.

During questions, Boswell confirmed the Bureau investigated Interac's volume-based pricing but closed the probe after Interac moved to a flat-fee model, though he could not definitively say prior practices were anti-competitive. He noted that abuse of dominance penalties can reach $25–35 million after a trial. On fraud, Boswell said the Bureau works with the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and has pursued criminal cases, but noted that reported fraud figures likely understate the problem. He added that private enforcement expanded under Bill C-59 allows more lawsuits, which helps given the Bureau's finite resources.

Boswell also discussed ongoing investigations into Google's ad tech practices and Amazon's pricing and fake reviews, emphasizing the Bureau's focus on digital platforms. On SME financing, Durocher said the new market study will examine barriers for smaller lenders, switching costs for businesses, and disparities for minority- or women-owned SMEs, with a 30-day stakeholder consultation underway.

In committee business, members debated motions for studies on defence industrial strategy and productivity decline. An amendment to invite ministers for at least two hours was withdrawn. The committee later adopted a motion to invite Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly to appear for at least one hour on her mandate and related studies.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 3

Matthew Boswell

Commissioner of Competition, Competition Bureau Canada

Opening remarks

Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. It's good to be back before this particular committee, which we've been in front of a fair bit, albeit with many new faces this evening. As the chair said, I am Matthew Boswell, and I am the commissioner of competition. I am joined today by my colleague Jeanne Pratt, who's the senior deputy commissioner of the mergers and monopolistic practices branch, and Anthony Durocher, who's the deputy commissioner of the competition promotion branch. I would like to take my time this evening to provide a quick overview of the Competition Bureau's role and some of our recent work. The bureau is an independent law enforcement agency that protects and promotes competition for the benefit of Canadian consumers and businesses. We administer and enforce Canada's Competition Act, a law of general application that applies to every sector of the economy, as well as three labelling statutes. Our enforcement of the act involves investigating and addressing abuses of market power, anti-competitive mergers, price-fixing, bid-rigging and deceptive marketing practices. We also…

Full testimony ↗

Anthony Durocher

Deputy Commissioner, Competition Promotion Branch, Competition Bureau Canada

Opening remarks

When we look at airline competition, as we did for close to a year, it's a concentrated market in Canada. Air Canada and WestJet have a combined control of anywhere between 56% and 78% of passenger share in most major airports in Canada. There have been inroads on competition, if we look at Porter and Flair, but if we look at the history, competition can be fragile. We also know that competition matters for airfare. We did some data work that showed that when you have one more competitor flying on a given route in Canada, prices go down by 9%. Competition is very important, especially given concerns about affordability. We provided 10 recommendations for tangible steps that governments can take to increase competition in the market. There are three broad categories. The first is prioritizing competition in federal aviation policy. The second is looking at lowering barriers to foreign investment in the Canadian industry so that we can tap foreign investment and experience to enable it to thrive. The third is looking at northern Canada and remote regions, and how we can take steps to prioritize contestability in these remote markets.