24 www.lexpert.ca
Top 10 Business Decisions
CO-WRITTEN BY AIDAN MACNAB, BERNISE CAROLINO
IN 2021, Rogers Communications agreed
to purchase Shaw Communications for
approximately $26 billion. Just over a year
later, the Commissioner of Competition
applied under the Competition Act to block
the acquisition, arguing that the deal would
substantially prevent or lessen competi-
tion in the telecoms industry. In response,
Rogers and Shaw agreed to divest of Shaw's
subsidiary, Freedom Mobile, which would
be sold to Videotron.
Last December, the Competition
Tribunal dismissed the application to
block the acquisition, finding that the
parties considering future transactions," says
Eugene Meehan, a partner and appellate
lawyer at Supreme Advocacy LLP.
"e decision is indicative of the diffi-
culty that the Competition Bureau has in
Canada to demonstrate anti-competitive
effects, which is required in order to block
a transaction," he says. "e decision may
prompt legislative reforms in competition
law. e Tribunal is bound to apply the law
in adjudicating matters before it, and its role
is different from the Commissioner who
is tasked with enhancing competition in
Canada."
e nominator noted that Canada v.
Rogers was the largest contested merger in
Canadian history and will have a lasting im-
pact on the Canadian telecommunications
industry by establishing important prece-
dents for merger review and litigation. In the
interlocutory process, the parties exchanged
more than one million documents in two
weeks of discovery, and there were 16 con-
tested pre-trial motions. During the four-
week trial, parties cross-examined 40 lay and
expert witnesses on almost 2,000 documen-
tary exhibits and witness statements, some of
which eclipsed 1,000 pages, they said.
• Commissioner of Competition >
Competition Bureau Legal Services >
Alexander Gay, Jonathan Hood, Irene
Cybulsky, Michael Packer
• Rogers Communications Inc. > Lax
O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP > Jonathan
C. Lisus, Crawford G. Smith, John Carlo
Mastrangelo, Matthew R. Law
• Shaw Communications Inc. > Davies
Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP > Kent
E. Thomson, Derek D. Ricci, Steven G.
Frankel, Chanakya A. Sethi
• Videotron Ltd. > Bennett Jones LLP >
John F. Rook, K.C., Emrys Davis, Alysha
Pannu
CLIENTS > FIRMS > LAWYERS
combination of Rogers' acquisition of Shaw
and Videotron's acquisition of Freedom
Mobile would have pro-competitive effects.
e commissioner brought the case to the
Federal Court of Appeal, which dismissed it
for lack of merit.
is March, the minister of innovation,
science, and industry approved the transfer
of Shaw's spectrum licences to Videotron,
clearing the final regulatory hurdle. Rogers an-
nounced the completion of the arrangement
in April.
Canada v. Rogers will have "significant
implications for competition law and
CANADA (COMMISSIONER OF COMPETITION) V.
ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC., 2023 FCA 16
