What do all of these things have in common, in addition to being the causes of headaches for Canadians in the last 12 months? Some would say the answer is competition — or, to be more precise, a lack thereof.
There are many reasons why Canada's biggest industries are dominated by just a few companies. Some say a large geography and small population make it more difficult for Canada to support more than a few major players in sectors such as aviation. In response to the government's ongoing review of competition policy in Canada, the federal Competition Bureau said in a recent submission that it believes the majority of Canadians see the current competition framework as "outdated, weak, complex, slow and out of touch."
"They're experiencing it every day, in terms of the prices they pay for many different things, the choices, the quality of service, and the lack of innovation in the Canadian economy." It also wants stronger rules against things like collusion and abuse of dominance, when a major player or group acts to stop or substantially reduce competition, things Boswell said are more of a risk in highly concentrated markets such as Canada.
"When you have a bad harvest somewhere that pushes up the price of cauliflower ... well, it's not going to be competition law that fixes that," Osborne said. "That's just not what it's for."
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