Significant Changes To Canada´s Competition Law And Foreign Investment Regime

In our February 6, 2009 Osler Update, we drew attention to the important changes to the Competition Act and the Investment Canada Act (ICA) proposed in Bill C-10, the Budget Implementation Act, 2009 of the federal government, which was introduced that day. Since then, Bill C-10 has been expeditiously ushered through the Finance Committee and Second and Third Readings in the House and the Senate. It received Royal Assent on March 12, 2009. Most of the amendments to the Competition Act and the ICA in Bill C-10 are now in force although a few will not come into force until a date fixed by the Governor-in-Council or following the expiry of a set transitional period. The changes brought about by these amendments, which are the most significant in over two decades, have important and far-reaching implications for the business and legal communities.