In a move that took many by surprise, the Canadian Government
last week proposed significant changes to the country's
competition law and foreign investment review process. These
measures were introduced as part of the Government's budget
implementation legislation, and accordingly, will be considered as
part of the Government's economic stimulus package. If passed,
these measures will substantially re-make the Canadian regime in
the image of U.S. antitrust law.
Competition Act
The Government is proposing a long-debated reform to the
cornerstone criminal conspiracy section by removing the requirement
to show that an agreement among competitors would lessen or prevent
competition unduly. Under the new provision, which will make such
agreements "per se" illegal, competitors who agree,
conspire or arrange among themselves to fix, maintain, increase or
control prices or fix, maintain, control, prevent, lessen or
eliminate supply of a product or allocate sales,
