CFA addresses competition issues

(OTTAWA) – On Thursday, November 24, the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA) appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry and called for changes to federal competition laws. Paul Mistele, a Vice President of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA) and a member of the National Council of the CFA was providing a farmer perspective on Bill C-19, An Act to Amend the Competition Act.

A relative lack of competition in the parts of the agri-food value chain upstream and downstream of primary producers has created an imbalance in market power for Canadian farmers, which has in turn contributed to chronically low farm incomes.

“While farmers compete by the thousands, the same competitive model does not exist with their production chain partners. This imbalance in power has relegated farmers to being price takers while their industry partners are the price setters,” said Mistele.

CFA has recommended amendments be made to Bill C-19 to address competition issues in the agri-food industry and help farmers regain balanced market power. These changes include:

- Extend the application of administrative monetary penalties (fines) to include the violation of regulations on “Refusal to Deal” and “Tied Selling/Market Restrictions”. Under the current Act these fines are issued only for “Deceptive Practices” and “Abuse of Dominance”.
- The current Competition Act refers mainly to abuses of monopoly “suppliers” but should equally apply to abuses from monopoly “buyers”. Both actions are equally damaging to competition, fair pricing and the ability of producers to achieve incomes from the marketplace.
- Amending the Competition Act to allow the government to conduct “Market References”. This would allow governments to inquire into the state of competition and the function of markets in a sector of the economy. With this valuable information governments will be better placed to develop sound policy for the benefit of all Canadians.

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