The Year Ahead For Competition Litigation

Looking ahead to 2022, we expect the digital economy to remain a focus of the Competition Bureau. In the courts, more class actions seeking damages for i) misrepresentations, both with respect to physical product labelling and statements on websites, and ii) inadequate disclosure of service fees online and in apps, are being certified.

The Competition Bureau's priorities

Since assuming the role in 2018, the Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell has consistently expressed his view that the Bureau requires additional resources from the federal government to fully realize its mandate. In an October 2021 speech to the Canadian Bar Association he reported that the government would be providing the Bureau with an additional $96 million over the next five years, and $27.5 million each year afterward. This is a significant resource increase: the Bureau's budget in 2019-2020 was $53.7 million, which includes $16.5 million from user fees.