competition

Friday February 1, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 1, 2018

Bakers, grocers met to reach deals on bread prices, competition watchdog alleges

Senior officers at Canada’s two largest bread wholesalers communicated directly to raise prices in lockstep, then met with five retailers, who accepted the hike on condition their competitors would as well, the federal competition watchdog alleges in court documents released Wednesday.

December 1, 2007

The Competition Bureau believes wholesalers Canada Bread Company Ltd. and George Weston Ltd., as well as grocers Loblaw Companies Ltd., Walmart Canada Corp., Sobeys Inc., Metro Inc. and Giant Tiger Stores Ltd. committed indictable offences under the Competition Act, according to the previously sealed information to obtain documents.

Canada Bread and George Weston’s senior officers agreed to boost bread prices in tandem, typically by seven cents, for more than a decade starting in 2001, the documents allege.

The suppliers then allegedly met individually with their retail customers to get their approval for the price hike.

The retailers agreed to the boost on the condition their competitors would as well to maintain a fixed price in the market.

“Further, the retailers demanded that the suppliers actively manage retail competition by co-ordinating retail prices for their respective fresh commercial bread products and ensuring pricing alignment amongst the retailers,” the documents read.

The pattern became colloquially known as the 7/10 convention, according to the documents — with a usual seven cent price increase at wholesale and 10 cent price bump for the consumer in stores. (Source: CBC) 

 

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Wednesday September 4, 2013

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator - Wednesday, September

 

Verizon’s exit leaves Harper with tricky wireless file

With the deadline to sign up for a spectrum auction looming and a major U.S. company out of the running, it looks doubtful anyone will burst onto the scene to compete against Bell, Telus and Rogers.

So with Verizon out, what now for a Conservative government that has long staked its ground on getting a fourth player into Canada’s wireless market?

Companies have until Sept. 17 to put down a deposit to participate in the auction of wireless spectrum, which will be held in January.

One route might be to delay the auction — an option Industry Minister James Moore’s office says it isn’t considering.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Dvai Ghose says putting off the auction would be a politically tricky move since it has already been postponed.

“I think that’s politically very, very difficult to do. The government has already delayed the auction once,” he said.

Indeed, the consumer-oriented Conservatives have already been in the awkward position of being pitted against private companies who claim the auction process was rigged to favour foreign competitors over Canadian incumbents.

So the government may instead look at regulating things such as roaming fees, Ghose said.

Last week, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission asked cellphone companies for data on their roaming fees. It will eventually fall to the commission to decide whether to regulate roaming rates if it finds companies are gouging consumers or limiting their choices.