October 26, 2023
Partner and co-chair of the firm’s Competition and Foreign Investment Review practice Dany Assaf joined BNN Bloomberg’s Taking Stock for an interview regarding Canada’s Competition Act and its impact on food prices.
Regarding the proposed removal of the efficiencies defence in the act, Dany noted that “this is something that the [government] has wanted to fix for a long time, but it’s not going to make a difference in grocery retail prices today.”
To get to the root of the cause when it comes to the inflation the market is seeing in the cost of food, considerations beyond just retail must be made. For example, supply chain issues and global developments can also impact pricing.
Read: Canadian government fast-tracks Competition Act amendments aimed at addressing the cost of living
“There is a logic to certain mergers that is driven by efficiencies. That is something that as a country, we welcome,” Dany said, addressing the use of mergers as a tool to make the economy more prosperous.
“But I can see, in the world that we live in today, where people are thinking ‘there is too much concentration [in the market], and we want to try to make it a little bit harder for people to merge.’”
You can read more about our Competition and Foreign Investment Review work on our practice page.
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