Annual Report of the Commissioner of Competition for the year ending March 31, 2000

Message From the Commissioner

The Competition Bureau, as a forward-thinking organization, is always trying to look ahead and around every corner, to be ready for the next challenge. However, the Annual Report is a good opportunity to take a moment to look back at the past year, to reflect on the challenges we faced and the accomplishments we achieved.

This past year, there was a remarkable increase in the Bureau's profile. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the Bureau was required to review a number of highly complicated mergers, which are discussed in detail in Chapter 4 of this report. Chief among these was Air Canada's acquisition of Canadian Airlines. The Bureau concluded that, under the circumstances, the merger was preferable to the bankruptcy of Canadian, provided that Air Canada made several key commitments that would enhance competition. Nevertheless, our work with the airline industry is not done, and I am sure this issue will occupy our time and resources in the year to come.

As well this year, the Bureau intervened to prevent anti-competitive activity in a number of major cases, including several involving large cartels (see Chapter 5). This year, fines related to international cartels totalled more than $100 million: one firm alone was fined $48 million for its role in an international conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market shares for nine vitamin products - the largest fine levied in Canadian criminal law history. In addition, gasoline pricing continued to attract considerable attention over the year, and the Bureau devoted considerable resources to handling related complaints.

This was a year of significant activity for the Bureau in terms of its interaction with Parliament (see Chapter 6). Possible changes to the Competition Act continued to attract the attention of members of Parliament, resulting in an unprecedented number of Private Members' Bills. As well, the Bureau appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry as part of its hearings on anti-competitive pricing practices and the Competition Act.

This year, the Bureau continued to work toward increasing awareness of issues relating to the three standards-based acts: the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act and the Textile Labelling Act. In collaboration with several government and non-government organizations, the Bureau drafted Guidelines for the Labelling and Advertising of Pet Foods. The Bureau continues to partner with other government departments, industry and consumer representatives to harmonize labelling requirements to facilitate trade in the textile and apparel goods markets.

I have touched on only a few of the varied activities undertaken by the Bureau during 1999-2000. Many more are detailed in the pages of this report. All of these achievements are due to the hard work and commitment of the Bureau's staff. Their dedication will be invaluable as we move to meet the changes and new challenges of the year ahead.

Konrad von Finckenstein, QC