Canada's Competition Act: No Poach, No Problem? A Qualified Yes.

Canada's Competition Bureau (Bureau) has issued important guidance on the treatment of buyer agreements - including no-poach and wage-fixing agreements among employers - under the Competition Act (Act). Importantly, the Bureau takes the position - with which we agree - that such agreements are not captured by the criminal cartel provisions of the Act, although they may be reviewed and remedied under the civil competitor agreements provisions.

Different Approaches in Canada and the United States

The rise of antitrust enforcement against no-poach and wage-fixing agreements in the United States, since the antitrust agencies there issued guidelines on this issue in 2016, clearly impelled the Bureau to issue its statement on the parallel approach to these issues in Canada.