While details remain to be seen, the clear tone and direction in Ottawa is that there will be important changes to the Competition Act in what is being described as a "Consumers First" Economic Action Plan for 2014 (Budget), tabled before the House of Commons on February 11, 2014.

Among the proposed changes we are monitoring:

The Government of Canada announced that over the coming months it intends to introduce legislation to address country-specific pricing strategies. The government says it will target companies that use "market power" to charge higher prices in Canada than in the U.S. where these prices are not justified by legitimate higher operating costs.

The Commissioner of Competition will enforce this new framework. This proposed initiative is in line with the government's throne speech from last October, where it indicated a renewed commitment to consumer protection, including taking further action to end what the government saw as geographic price discrimination against Canadians. For more information, see our October 2013 Blakes Bulletin: Recent Developments in Canadian Competition Law and Foreign Investment.

The government also continues to focus on the telecommunications industry and may introduce a number of legislative measures in the coming weeks and months, including:

  • an interim cap on wholesale domestic wireless roaming rates to be in place until the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) completes public consultations;
  • new powers for the CRTC and Industry Canada to impose administrative monetary penalties on companies that violate established rules such as the Wireless Code; and
  • enhancing information sharing by the CRTC and Industry Canada to enable greater cooperation with organizations such as the Competition Bureau.

Some of these changes will be hard to implement effectively. Rate-setting has long been a blunt and inflexible instrument in regulatory settings. Moreover, finding a way to account fairly for pricing strategies between two very different countries seems like an intractable challenge. What is clear is that changes will be coming to the Competition Act in one form or another, which will represent additional compliance challenges for businesses.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.