March 9, 2024

Welcome to Letters from CAMP, a newsletter on anti-monopoly activity in Canada and abroad, brought to you by the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project. In this installment we have:

• CAMP releases an Anti-Monopoly Agenda for a more resilient and independent Canadian economy
• Outlining the threat that major American tech firms pose to the future of Canada’s sovereignty
• Two journalistic investigations dive into what's driving America’s concentrated egg market crisis

Now let’s dive in.

Charting a Course for an Anti-Monopoly Economy

The past week of tariff drama has shown that Canada’s monopoly problem is far from a domestic phenomenon. By becoming overly reliant on a single country, Canada has allowed its economic future to be monopolized. More than ever, Canadians need to take an anti-monopoly approach to all levels of our economy.

This week, CAMP released our Canadian Anti-Monopoly Agenda, highlighting how Canada can confront concentrated corporate power and create a more resilient and vibrant economy. The agenda highlights important policy steps across several key sectors to ensure that Canadian markets work for Canadians. Decades of pro-monopoly policy has enabled oligopolies to flourish, exploiting consumers and leaving us vulnerable in an increasingly chaotic global system. Now is the time to change course.

From groceries to railroads to digital markets, an approach skeptical of centralization and favouring diversity and resilience should be top of mind for policy makers. This means making use of tools far beyond competition law: changing the economics of key markets, encouraging investment in resilient and open access infrastructure, and ensuring consumers and businesses are protected from exploitation and discrimination.

In the coming year, CAMP is committed to working with policymakers, civil society, and industry to turn this vision of an anti-monopoly economy into reality. The past week's events have made it clear that this isn't just about securing a fair deal for Canadians—it’s about protecting our democracy from monopolists of all kinds, whether companies or countries.

📚What We’re Reading📚

• Brice Scheschuk, Affordable Mobile Everywhere in Canada – For Good (Build Canada)
• Andrew Clement, Time for Canada to strengthen its digital sovereignty (The Hill Times)
• Editorial Board Donald Trump started this fight. Canadians must come together now to finish it (Toronto Star)

The Big Tech Threat to Canada’s Sovereignty

As Canada navigates an increasingly hostile economic relationship with the U.S., the role of Big Tech firms—Google, Meta, and Amazon—has emerged as a significant threat to the future of Canada’s sovereignty.

Writing for the Toronto Star, CAMP executive director, Keldon Bester highlights how Canada's deep integration with these dominant U.S.-based tech platforms, initially seen as beneficial, now poses significant risks as potential leverage in our ongoing political and economic dispute.

Platforms like Google, Amazon and Meta have become critical infrastructure for information, commerce, and communication, leaving Canada vulnerable if these companies decide to pull these services or manipulate operations for political ends. As economic pressures like tariffs become less politically appealing for the U.S. administration, alternative pressure points—such as digital service restrictions—could increasingly be used to exert influence without domestic repercussions.

As an election looms, strengthening digital sovereignty must be a top priority for the incoming Canadian federal government. While Canadians were able to paper over this risk in previous administrations, protecting our economic and democratic autonomy hinges on reclaiming control of our digital infrastructure.

📰 CAMP in the News 📰

• Keldon Bester, Trump’s tariff threats expose Canada’s internal monopoly problem (Policy Options)

Cracking Open America’s Egg Crisis

The U.S. egg market's recent turmoil continues to reveal the dangers of extreme industry concentration. With over 200 companies controlling nearly the entirety of egg production, the sector has proven vulnerable when avian flu outbreaks hit. A Globe and Mail report this week detailed how the concentrated production model amplified disease impact, leading to significant supply disruptions and record-high egg prices.

Contrast this with Canada's comparatively stable egg market, supported by a decentralized supply management system. Smaller, distributed farms have buffered Canada against similar crises, demonstrating that diversification and effective regulation can mitigate supply shocks. However, as CAMP’s Plow to Pantry report documented last year, Canada remains vulnerable in other areas of agriculture, where corporate consolidation continues unchecked.

But the consolidation of America’s egg markets has made it vulnerable to monopoly exploitation as much as disease outbreaks. In the first of a two-part investigative series, American anti-monopoly experts Basel Musharbash and Matt Stoller show that a supply crunch is only part of the story. While national egg production has been reduced by single digits, the largest American egg producer Cal-Maine foods has seen its profits more than triple since the onset of the outbreak.

This work highlights that diverse supply chains serve two beneficial purposes, increasing resilience and ensuring that powerful firms are not able to take advantage of market fluctuations. To protect consumers and producers across the economy, policy makers must understand the value of diverse, competitive markets.

If you have any monopoly tips or stories you'd like to share, drop us a line at hello@antimonopoly.ca

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