Canadian Competition Law Outlook: Continued Expansion and Increased Enforcement as Reforms Continue to Take Shape in 2024

Competition law in Canada continues to expand in scope and importance. Given recent and pending reforms, a wider range of practices can be subject to investigations under the Competition Act (Act), penalties for non-compliance are more significant and private parties will soon be able to bring disgorgement claims for practices that were otherwise considered relatively benign.

Since the beginning of 2022, the one constant for the Act has been expansion. The scope of the Act was expanded in 2022 and again in 2023. It will be further amended in 2024. These three waves of amendments amount to the most sweeping set of changes to the Act in a generation and will have broad implications for businesses in Canada.

This publication highlights key trends in Canadian competition law, including recent amendments that introduce a criminal prohibition against wage-fixing and no-poach agreements, provide the Competition Bureau with new market study powers, broaden the scope of the abuse of dominance and competitor collaboration provisions, and introduce a new private right of action for damages and expand the pre-merger notification regime.

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For further information, please contact any member of our Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group.