Supreme Court Clarifies Test For Merger Review In Canada

Lays waste to Commissioner's case on efficiencies, but serves as reminder of hazards of internal documents

On January 23, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its much-anticipated decision in Tervita Corp. v Canada (Commissioner of Competition).¹ In 2011, the Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner) challenged Tervita Corp.'s merger with a potential competitor, Complete Environmental Inc., and in 2012 the Competition Tribunal (Tribunal) ruled in favour of the Commissioner and ordered Tervita to divest itself of the assets it had acquired. The Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) upheld that decision. In its first ruling on the Competition Act's merger review provisions in more than 20 years, the SCC allowed Tervita's appeal and overturned the earlier decisions.