Irving Oil has pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $287,583 arising from allegations of retail price maintenance in Quebec. The guilty plea flowed from an extensive Bureau investigation that commenced in 2008 and spanned several years. Retail price maintenance was decriminalized as part of extensive 2009 amendments to the Competition Act, and the practice is now merely a civilly reviewable practice, subject to proceedings before the Competition Bureau. The guilty plea by Irving Oil may be one of the last such proceedings for historic conduct governed by the legacy provision of the pre-amendment Competition Act.
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