Lexpert magazine features articles and columns on developments in legal practice management, deals and lawsuits of interest in Canada, the law and business issues of interest to legal professionals and businesses that purchase legal services.
Issue link: https://digital.carswellmedia.com/i/1511709
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