Monopolies Killed My Hometown: Recent Episodes

Andrew Cameron

Do you wonder why small towns, small businesses and people seem to be falling behind and you don’t know why? Feeling helpless about whether any of us can do anything to halt the decline of the places we love? Well, we know a secret. Our society fought the same battles about 100 years ago, and small towns won.

Join Andrew Cameron, the founder of the Center for Small Town Success and small business owner, every other week as he rediscovers our Canadian Anti-Monopoly tradition. The goal is to learn how we successfully fought back against Monopolies in the 1900s so we can restore power to small towns, small businesses and individuals today.

Listen to this podcast if you want to learn more about Canadian Competition Policy and to join the Anti-Monopoly movement. #freeboswell #cdnpoli

e27: Apologies on this delayed episode. I was on holiday and didn't get this pulled together before I went away. This episode we're back to the Royal Commission on Price Spreads and their analysis of the Agricultural Implement Industry - basically, tractors, combines, and other farming equipment. Unsurprisingly, the Commission found there was only 3 major equipment dealers and they were extracting excess profits out of the Farmer's. This either drove up food costs or drove farms out of business.

I argue that manufacturers are extracting excess profits out of farmers today. One way is by not allowing farmers to fix their own equipment. Did you know that a farmer can break copyright law by fixing their own tractor? Weird, huh? This also applies to the rest of us when we try to fix cars, cell phones, tvs, appliances and other consumer items. These excess profits eventually end up being paid by us at the grocery store. The 'Right-to-Repair' movement is pushing hard to fix this and let farmers and people fix their own equipment and goods.

Links from this episode:

Farmers seeking 'right to repair' rules to fix their own tractors gain White House ally
Farmers need right to repair their own equipment
John Deere commits to letting farmers repair their own equipment (kind of)
We Cant's Let John Deere Destroy the Concept of Ownership
Here's One Reason US Military Can't Repair Its Own Equipment
Learn About Right to Repair - ISED and the Competition Bureau
Canadian Equipment Dealers Asked to be Exempt from Right to Repair

Welcome back to more real estate discussions. This week we are talking about unfair access to capital and how I suspect it is contributing to our unaffordable housing crisis in Canada. We've set up a system in Canada where the largest real estate players have the ability to access more capital and cheaper capital than smaller real estate developers. Capital is one of the largest barriers to entry into the development industry. is a similar dynamic to independent retailers trying to compete with the dominant retailers like Wal-Mart, LoBlaws, Amazon and so on. I dive into two rule changes that we made that allow REITs to grow into the dominant landlords they are, and how I see it has attracted capital in to our largest centers and left rural areas behind.

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Links from today's episode:

Real Estate Investment Trusts in Canada
Canadian REITs
One study said happiness peaked at $75,000 in income. Now, economists say its higher - by a lot.

I planned on moving on to a different topic, but I'm going to stick with housing for now. Last week I looked at concentration in the building supply industry and how it could increase cost of housing. This week I'm looking at concentration in the real estate development industry and that potential impact on the supply of housing. CMHC issued their report in 2022 and said we need to build 5.8 million new homes by 2030, we were on pace to build 2.3 million and need to add on another 3.5 million homes. My question is who is going to build those homes?

The short answer is always the generic 'private sector'. Housing is challenging to look at from a Competition Bureau perspective because so much is done at the Municipal level. Plus it's hard to define the competitive market. Does Toronto real estate compete with Ottawa? What about Halifax and Dartmouth? But I think the Municipalities and Provinces can and should look at the market dynamics of their development industries and act to increase the capacity of their real estate development industries by acting to encourage new entrants. And the Federal Government has their own ways they can act to increase supply of housing.

Error from the episode: It was Upton Sinclair, not Ralph Waldo Emerson who said "it's hard to get a man to understand something their wallet depends on them not understanding."

Links from episode:

We're all to blame for Canada's brutal housing market
Social Housing Construction Graph
e24 on housing
CMHC Housing Portal
De Beers Market Share
A Democratic Vision for Antitrust

We're going to take a break from the Price Spreads Report in this episode. Instead I want to talk housing, construction and consolidation. I come from the Construction/Real Estate Industry, and have lots to say on this issue. It's fair to say we have a housing affordability crisis in Canada, and in this episode I dive into how I see consolidation in the building supply industry has contributed to this problem.

I first wrote about this in December 2021 in my newsletter, and I want to revisit this because St Gobain, the parent company of Certainteed, has reached an agreement to buy Building Products of Canada (BP). Certainteed and BP manufacture two of the readily available lines of asphalt shingles in Canada. We're looking at less competition in this industry, which can lead to higher prices for new construction, renovations and repairs. Ultimately this makes the housing more expensive.

This ties into the fundamental issue I have with the current plan to solve our problem by increasing the supply of housing significantly. We don't talk about the cost of the new supply, we just assume more supply will lower the price. BUT, if the average cost of a house in Canada is $500,000, how many $600,000 houses do we need to build to lower the average price? Mathematically this can never work. We need to build below average cost housing to lower the price of housing.

If we allow consoldiation in the building supply industry, at both the retail and wholesale levels, and this raises the cost to build new housing, how can we solve the crisis?

Links from today's episode:

About Affordable Housing in Canada - CMHC
St Gobain buys Kaycan
Canada needs 5.8 million new homes by 2030 to tackle affordability crisis, CMHC warns
Insights into Housing Supply in Canada's largest Cities
Non-profit scoops up 5 apartment buildings in HRM for affordable housing
IKO was founded by the Koschitzky Family

We're back to the Price Spreads Report, and this time we are focused on the Meat Packing Industry. This section fascinated me. I loved the commissions discussion about the largest meat packing companies expanding into and losing money in other business lines, like creameries. The commission found that the profits from the meat packing industry subsidized those losses, but those losses also harmed other industries. How can a small creamery compete with another creamery that can afford to lose money every year? And how can a small business today compete against companies that can lose money?

My favourite facts from the episode - In 1933, the top 2 companies - Canada Packers Limited and the Swift Canadian Company - had 85% of the sales in the industry. In 2021, the top 2 companies - JBL and Cargill - had 85% of the sales. Hmmm... The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Links from today's episode:

The G Word with Adam Connover
The Feasibility of Small Local Meat Packing Plants in Canada
Let's talk turkey about competition in Canada's beef packing industry - Senator Simons
Teachers' sells 10% of Maple Leaf Foods
Grocery CEOs deny accusations that food price inflation is driven by profit mongering

This episode is perfect timing. We're looking at the recommendations the Price Spreads Commission is making to try to fix the retail industry in the 1930's, and on November 17, 2022 our Federal Government announced a review of our current Competition Act. A lot of the recommendations made in the 1930's are still relevant, and we can make today. Listen to this episode and learn what ideas we need to reuse.

Links from today's episode:

Announcement of the review of the Competition Act
List of current Federal Ministers
Sackler family to pay $6bn for role in US opiod crisis
Texas Freeze Triggers Global Plastics Shortage
IV bags in short supply across US after Hurricane Maria

We're getting near the end of the discussion on the department and chain stores. This episode will be a look into the specific actions of the chain and department stores that worried the Commission. These behaviors were lumped into mass buying and price concessions, and competitive practices in retail trade. Price concessions are between mass buyers and suppliers, retail trade is between mass buyers and other retailers.

This is a perfect time for this episode - the Canadian Competition Bureau just announced a market study of the Canadian grocery industry. Basically, the Competition Bureau is going to look into 'competitive practices in retail trade'. again.

Note: It was 2013 when Future Shop closed.

The behaviors the Commission looked into are:

Mass Buying and Price Concessions
- Trade Discounts
- Cash Discounts
- Quantity Discounts
- Free Deals and Premiums
- Advertising Allowances
- Demonstrators
Competitive Practices in Retail Trade
- Loss Leaders
- Deceptive Packaging
- Short Weighing
- Misleading Advertising

Links from today's episode:

Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
80 Pc Mastercraft Screwdriver set
Tool Manufacturer Consolidation
Competition Bureau Market Study
Costco co-founder on $1.50 hot dogs
Bread price-fixing in Canada

We're getting near the end of the discussion on the department and chain stores. This episode will be a look into the specific actions of the chain and department stores that worried the Commission. These behaviors were lumped into mass buying and price concessions, and competitive practices in retail trade. Price concessions are between mass buyers and suppliers, retail trade is between mass buyers and other retailers.

This is a perfect time for this episode - the Canadian Competition Bureau just announced a market study of the Canadian grocery industry. Basically, the Competition Bureau is going to look into 'competitive practices in retail trade'. again.

Note: It was 2013 when Future Shop closed.

The behaviors the Commission looked into are:

Mass Buying and Price Concessions
- Trade Discounts
- Cash Discounts
- Quantity Discounts
- Free Deals and Premiums
- Advertising Allowances
- Demonstrators
Competitive Practices in Retail Trade
- Loss Leaders
- Deceptive Packaging
- Short Weighing
- Misleading Advertising

Links from today's episode:

Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
80 Pc Mastercraft Screwdriver set
Tool Manufacturer Consolidation
Competition Bureau Market Study
Costco co-founder on $1.50 hot dogs
Bread price-fixing in Canada

Links from today's episode:

What Happened When Wal-Mart left Town?, The Guardian
What Happens When Wal-Mart Leaves a Small-Town?
With 269 Stores Closing, Is this the Beginning of the End for Wal-Mart, ILSR
The Wal-Mart Effect, by C,harles Fisman
Hamster, I know life is hard for you... blog post
Best Buy Snaps Up Future Shop for $580 million
Future Shop stores closed across Canada some to rebrand as Best Buy

I'm continuing my deep dive into the Price Spreads report and it's look at the retail industry in the 1930's. This week's episode is all about department stores, specifically Eaton's, The Bay. In the 1930's Eaton's did 7% of all retail sales in Canada. Canada has a long, history with the Hudson's Bay company. I look back quickly on the history of HBC and how they used similar monopolistic tactics when they had the dominant position in the fur trading industry. And to connect back to today, I talk a lot about Amazon. I know Amazon wasn't around in the 1930's but Amazon has a lot of the same dominant characteristics and impacts today that the department stores had in the 1930's.

Links from today's episode:

Price Spreads Report
Episode 11 - Introduction to the Price Spreads Report
Episode 12 - The Price Spreads Report - Retail as distribution
Short history of Hudson's Bay Company
Statistics on Amazon Prime
Map of the Northwestern Territory
Boxed Out Report, by Stacy Mitchell and Ron Knox, ILSR
A&P by John Updike
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
California Files Antitrust Lawsuit against Amazon
From Seattle to Luxembourg: how tax schemes shaped Amazon
Breakdown of Amazon Prime Scam - Matt Stoller

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In today's episode I dive into Chapter 7 of the Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads. This chapter is all about the 1934 Canadian retail scene and the impact of mass buyers, e.g. chain stores and department stores, on smaller retailers, producers and manufacturers. In case you couldn't guess - it wasn't good. This chapter is titled 'Distribution' and got me thinking of our retail system as the distribution network for our producers and manufacturers. Looking at our retailers as the national distribution network caused me to think of retail as essential infrastructure just like streets, railroads, water and sewer lines, and power lines. Allowing anyone to dominate any of these pieces of infrastructure allows them to extract excess fees and expenses from others. We've let a handful of companies dominate our retail scene again. We need to reform our competition laws to free our retail scene from these dominant players.

Links from today's episode:

Chapter 7 of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
California accuses Amazon of stifling competition
2021 Suez Canal obstruction
Dayles to close
The CSCA Retail 100 (2021)
Why we failed to save small businesses
The Hockey Sweater

In today's episode, I reach back to 1934 to revisit the Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads. At the height of the Great Depression the price of bread rose significantly, and the price paid to wheat framers did not increase - The Royal Commission on Price Spreads was tasked to find out why. They did a major market study of the Canadian economy focused on wager-earners and producers, and then made a large number of suggestions. This report spoke to me since the price of lumber tripled in 2020, but retail stores and woodlot owners weren't making any more money. It seemed to me that history was repeating.

I love the language that's used in this report. The author's of the report value individual Canadians, and the ability for wage-earners and small producers to flourish. Their language reflects this, especially compared to today's reports which are written with efficiency being the guiding value.

The Commission started their investigations, and were inundated with more and more complaints from other industries and sectors. The Commission was concerned they'd have to write multiple, in-depth reports to capture the all the complaints and this was not possible to do. Finally they realized consolidated corporate power was the root cause of all of the complaints.

Links from the episode:

Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
The Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
Episode 4
Great Depression in Canada
Mullet Championships
Record Lumber prices adding thousands of dollars to new home building costs

On August 11, 2022 we hosted the launch event for the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. Myself, Keldon Bester and Robin Shaban were joined by Barry Lynn with the Open Markets Institute and Stacy Mitchell from the Institute for Local Self Reliance. We talked about our vision, hopes and goals for CAMP, and Barry and Stacy shared their experiences as part of the anti-monopoly movement.

This is the audio replay of the launch event.

Links from today's episode:

The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
Open Markets Institute
Institute for Local Self Reliance

This episode is being posted 1 day early because I have exciting news. Thursday, August 11th at 12:00 pm EST is the free, online launch event for the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. This is a new think-tank and advocacy group that myself, Robin Shaban, and Keldon Bester have started. Register for the event here. Hope to see you there.

In today's episode I review a memo written by the Competition Policy Council at the C.D. Howe Institute called, "Efficiencies Exception: Let's Keep It." The efficiencies exception, or efficiencies defense, is an odd section of our Competition Act which allows the Bureau and Tribunal to approve mergers with anti-competitive effects that are predicted to have more efficiencies than costs. The theory is this will make firms more competitive internationally, even though it may cost individual Canadians more personally, or even cause people to lose their jobs.

We have used this defense in the past to allow anti-competitive mergers, the two most famous cases are the 1998 purchase of ICG Propane by Superior Propane's purchases of ICG Propane (1998) and Trevita (2014). Spoiler alert: The Superior Propane decision increased costs of propane by about 8%; none of the supposed "efficiencies" were passed on to Canadians. We also weren't able to do a market study, or review the merger, to see if Superior Propane actually gained the efficiencies they predicted they would achieve.

I also share two arguments from Jim Stanford's "Economics for Everyone" - that the discipline of economics is:

a soft science, like history or sociology, more than it is a hard science like physics or chemistry.
always political; it is not a neutral discipline disconnected from our values as a community.

I argue this does not line up with the values we have as Canadians, and needs to be removed from our Competition Act when we complete the review of the Act.

How do we do this?

When the review of our Competition Act starts this fall, we must make our voices heard through the submission process, and to our MPs and Senators.
We must apply Stanford's thoughts on the discipline of economics to our daily lives. Know that economists are making best-guesses - they are not able to predict the future with 100% accuracy. When they make specific claims, we need to question their assumptions, and question who will benefit from their plans.
Register for the launch event of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project

Deadweight loss

Simplified example

My cake shop sells 10 cakes at $10. I raise my price to $15/cake and I only sell 8 cakes. The deadweight loss is the value of the 2 cakes I didn't sell at $15 - so $30.

How this example relates to the efficiency defense in a merger

My cake shop sells 10 cakes/day at $10, and can make 20 cakes/day. The only other cake shop in town sells 10 cakes/day at $10 too. So I buy the other cake shop. I then close the other shop and lay off employees to become more "efficient" - this saves $75/day. Finally I raise my price to $15/cake, but I only sell 16 cakes/day now.

The deadweight loss is $60 (4 cakes @ $15), but the efficiencies gained are $75. Even though this is anti-competitive, it's deemed to be beneficial for the economy, so the merger is approved.

Links from the episode:

Canada's efficiencies defence may enable Rogers-Shaw merger, Robin Shaban
Deadweight Loss Definition
Tribunal approves propane merger despite concerns, cbc.ca
Super Propane: When Efficiencies Prevail but Overwhelm the System
Superior Propane: the case that broke the law
Legalizing Merger to Monopoly and Higher Prices: The Canadian Competition Tribunal Gets it Wrong

The "Attack on American Free Enterprise System" memo, or as it's better known The Powell Memo. Lewis Powell wrote this memo for the education committee of the American Chamber of Commerce two months before he was nominated to sit on the US Supreme Court.

This is part 2 of my analysis of this memo and its impacts on us and our communities.

In part 1, I look at how this memo read like a moral panic.

In part 2, I talk about the four areas Powell suggests the business community focus on to make sure they are "fair" to the business community - the campus, the media, politics and the courts.

The ideas laid out in The Powell Memo have influenced Canadian universities. For instance, Tom Traves (president of Dalhousie University from 1995 to 2013) was a founding board member of the Atlantic Institute of Market Studies, a think tank that was promoting research to benefit the business community; Ray Ivany (president of the Nova Scotia Community College from 1998 to 2005 and Acadia University from 2009 to 2017) was the Chair of the One Nova Scotia Report, which promoted similar ideas to what Powell promoted in this memo. I spend the bulk of the episode discussing the college campus, and quickly cover the media, politics, and the courts.

Links from this episode:

The Powell Memo
Board of Directors of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Some of the wealthy donors to the Ottawa Freedom Convoy
'Political Correctness', You're Wrong About Podcast
One Nova Scotia report and dashboard
The fight against CRT continues and math text books are the latest victim, Indianapolis Recorder
History of Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS)
AIMS Annual Report 1996-1997
AIMS merges with the Fraiser Institute
Biography of Ray Ivany
The Ivany tower, whose One Nova Scotia?: A critical discourse analysis of the "Ivany Report"
Voluntary Planning Board of Nova Scotia
Running with a discman - my post on comparing the 1991 and 2014 economic strategies.
Creating Our Own Future - A Nova Scotia Economic Strategy - my scanned copy of the 1991 report.

"Attack on American Free Enterprise System", or better known as The Powell Memo. Lewis Powell wrote this memo for the education committee of the American Chamber of Commerce two months before he was nominated to sit on the US Supreme Court.

I looked at this American memo for two main reasons. First, Canada tends to follow the economic path laid by the US. Second, in the last episode I talked about ecosystems. I said the largest trees can't change the rules to benefit themselves, but businesses can. This memo provides the outline for how the business community worked to change the rules for their benefit over the last 40-50 years. Knowing this history is relevant to the conversation we're going to have about Competition Policy in Canada.

Other people have more scholarly reviews and analysis of this memo. I view this as Powell invoking a moral panic to get the business community to fight back. I break down why I think this is the case.

Some links from today's episode:

The Powell Memo
A Corporate Blueprint to Dominate America
The Powell Memorandum's 40th Anniversary: Impunity For Control Fraud
Compete to Win Final Report - aka The Wilson Report
Canadian Chamber urges independent review of Competition Act
The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism by Michael Hobbes
Panic! On the Editorial Page by Michael Hobbes

Today's episode is slightly different than usual. In today's episode I provide updates on some amendments to the Competition Act introduced in this year's Federal Budget, provide a short update on the Rogers/Shaw merger, and introduce the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP) which I'm a founding member of.

Finally I circle back to an article I wrote about the type of competition our Competition Laws should foster and protect - tl dr; it's not competition like sports where you compete for the sake of competing. It's the competition that makes an ecosystem, like a forest, stronger and keeps the whole forest in balance. A forest that is in balance is healthy, and a forest that is out of balance is unhealthy. We are living in a time that is out of balance, and our communities are weaker because of that.

Other links from today's episode:

Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project
Robin Shaban on Twitter
Keldon Bester on Twitter
Canada's Budget 2022 Offers Competition Reforms, but the Real Fight Lies Ahead, by Keldon Bester
Canadian Competition Act Reform: First Round of Significant Amendments, by Beth Riley, Alysha Pannu, Christina Skinner, Randy Hughes, Melanie Aitken, Emrys Davis
Rapid passage of Competition Act amendments through Budget Implementation Act process can cause more harm than good, by John Pecman
First round of proposed amendments to the Competition Act revealed, by Shuli Rodal, Michelle Lally, Christoper Naudie, Kaeleigh Kuzma, Gajan Sathananthan, Danielle Chu, Chelsea Rubin, Reba Nauth
Schedule for Rogers Shaw hearings
Last paragraph of the Competition Bureau's submission regarding the Rogers/Shaw merger
Competition Bureau's reply to Rogers filings
What exactly are we competing for?, by Andrew Cameron

In episode 5 of Monopolies Killed My Hometown, I actually get into the article, Trade Secrets of the Combines Detectives by Peter C. Newman from the May 24, 1958 edition of MacLean's Magazine.. Last week, in part 1, I mostly looked at the merger of Rogers Communications and MacLean Hunter. In this episode I share some about Peter C Newman's biography and history, and then I dive into the article.

I recap all the combines and price fixing agreements that the investigators found in the following industries: "oatmeal, fruits and vegetables, coffins, car accessories, matches, wire fencing, galoshes, quilted goods, eyeglasses, tires, flour, gasoline, bread, coal, cigarettes, toilet paper and false teeth."

Note: there are some transcription errors in the article, remember, 'hour' is probably 'flour'.

In the second half of the episode I think through the changes I'd like to see to the Competition Act and how we administer it. On the top of my list, I'd like to see us doing actual market studies and allowing the Commissioner to start investigations without a complaint being filed. On my wildest dreams list, I'd love to see provincial offices of the Competition Bureau be established to investigate smaller mergers and acquisitions that have an outsized impact on smaller regions of the Country. I want to make sure that our regional and local economies are working. We don't buy from the National economy, we buy from regional and local economies that build up to create the National economy.

Links from the episode:

Peter C. Newman interview on The Hour with George Strombolopolous
Brian Mulroney's response to Peter C Newman's "Secret Mulroney Tapes" Book - a joke from the Canadian Press Dinner in 2005
Upper Canada College Alumni
Bronfman Family
The Time Jeff Bezos Went Thermonuclear on Diapers.com
Illusion of Choice Report by American Economic Liberties Project
Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
The State of Competition Policy in Canada: Towards an Agenda for Reform in a Digital Era, by Vass Bednar & Robin Shaban

This is part 1 of 2 where I look back at the article "Trade Secrets of the Combines Detectives" by Peter C. Newman in the May 24, 1958 edition of MacLean's magazine. In part 1, I take a detour into the 1994 merger of MacLean Hunter and Rogers Communication. I revisit some of the claims made at the time of the merger, like Rogers needed to grow to protect Canadian Culture from the US, and I point out that some of the "efficiencies" gained were just accounting tricks, not actual improvements.

I also explore how I think this merger could have led the roll-up of local newspapers and radio stations, which ultimately destroyed the way communities are able to talk with and amongst themselves. Listen to hear about me being on the radio leading up to Little League Baseball's 'tag day' fundraiser, learn which prominent Canadian journalist (not a Senator) got their start at CKDH in Amherst, and my surprise when I learn who first bought CKDH from our local owners.

Links from today's show:

Trade Secrets of the Combines Detectives, Peter C. Newman
MacLean's: The First 100 Years
Rogers shutting down remaining video stores
Rogers succeeds in Maclean Hunter bid
The Next Hurdles, John Daly
The Suprise Platform, John Daly (There's weird formatting sometimes in the MacLean's archive.)
- Ted Rogers quote about needing to stand up to the telephone monopolies
CRTC Decision 94-923
The destiny of an unwilling executioner, Peter C. Newman
- Ted Rogers quote about preserving Canadian broadcasting and culture
- How taxes play a major role in this merger.
History of Maritime Broadcasting System
Rogers takeover of Maclean Hunter creates new media giant
Comcast to buy Cable Operations of Maclean Hunter for $1.27 Billion
Prominent Canadian Journalist starting at CKDH in Amherst

E03: Going back to a paper written by William Lyon MacKenzie King, we can learn some of the thought processes behind passing the Combines Investigation Act, the precursor to the Competition Act. MacKenzie King was the Minister of Labour of Canada when the Combines Investigation Act was passed by Parliament. This was before he was Prime Minister three times.

We can see they modelled the Combines Investigation Act after the Industrial Disputes Act. We also learn the three principles Canadian competition policy was initially built on were:
1) Combines and businesses will always put the interests of their investors and owners above others.
2) Government's role is to ensure that combines are not able to amass power and dominate the public.
3) Publicity of bad acts can be enough to discourage those actions.

Links from episode:

The Canadian Combines Investigation Act, by W. L. Mackenzie King, C.M.G., Ph. D
'Doris Day' petition hits the mark, CBC
Boaty McBoatface wins poll to name polar research vessel, The Guardian
Explainer: Google and its double Irish tax scheme, the Irish Times

E02: In this episode I explore where we are right now with our Canadian Competition Policy. I look at 3 areas: the Competition Act, the Competition Bureau, and the Competition Tribunal. I try to identify the role each plays in enforcing our Canadian Competition Policy. Come for that clarification, stay for the Lenny Brisco and Jack McCoy analogies.

Links from today's episode:

Canadian Competition Bureau Homepage
Canadian Competition Tribunal
Canadian Competition Tribunal Members
Canadian Competition Act
Matthew Boswell Bio
Vass Bednar, Regs 2 Riches on Competition Policy Review
Guide to Doing Business in Canada, Ian MacDonald - article I reference for breakdown of what the Competition Bureau reviews
The Institutional Design of Canada Competition Law: The Evolving Role of the Commissioner, Calvin Goldman, Navine Joneja
2009 Changes to the Competition Act

Further Reading:

Was the Crisis in Antitrust a Trojan Horse? by Barak Orbach - This paper outlines Bork's incorrect reading of past legislation.
Quality Concrete expands Atlantic Footprint in LaFarge Agreement

Welcome to Monopolies Killed My Hometown. In this episode I share the path that led me to identify that Monopolies and Corporate Consolidation is the root cause behind the decline in my hometown of Amherst, NS. I moved away in 1999 after graduating from High School. I moved back to Amherst in 2015. Amherst appeared similar to the Town I grew up in, but they felt different. What happened? Monopolies.

I founded the Center for Small Town Success to learn more about the impact of Monopolies on small towns. I want to bring power back to small towns, and to people , so they can have control over their future again.

Links from the episode:

Town of Amherst, NS
The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition, by Jonathan Tepper with Denise Hearn
Goliath: The 100-year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy, by Matt Stoller
Big by Matt Stoller
Canadian Competition Bureau
Consumer Welfare Standard

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The podcast to help re-discover our Anti-Monopoly tradition in order to save our small towns and businesses.