February 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:

• Turning Trump’s tariff threat into an opportunity to address Canada’s monopoly moment
• Soaring eggs prices in the U.S. demonstrate the fragility of a consolidated food system
• How Big Tech enables suppression of expression while championing free speech values

Now let’s dive in.

Success in a Tariff World Means Tackling Monopolies

What a difference a week makes. Just days after Trump’s tariff threat and down to the wire 30 day pause, Canada is contending with an entirely different economic reality. Canadians’ perception of our southern neighbour has undergone a fundamental shift, leading to calls to boycott American companies and providing a stark reminder of just how dependent we are on foreign firms.

Canadians now understand the need to act to make our economy more independent from an increasingly erratic superpower. This is a monopoly problem (or monopsony, if you wanted to be pedantic). By taking the path of least resistance, the U.S. became THE buyer for the Canadian economy. Now, Canada is learning the lesson that so many businesses dependent on massive corporations have: we are not in charge.

While this new economic reality is nothing to celebrate, it does present an opportunity to shake loose the thinking that has held a grip on Canadian policy makers for decades and to finally tackle Canada’s monopoly problem.

Building a more dynamic and resilient economy means tackling our domestic monopolies at home while mitigating our dependence on monopolies from abroad. Foundational markets key to our economic success - banking, transportation, telecommunications - are locked up by homegrown oligopolies. At the same time, digital markets are controlled by foreign giants increasingly testing the boundaries of our sovereignty. Markets that work for everyday Canadians, not monopolies, must be a top priority in this new economic reality.

The economic and policy logic that has dominated Canada for decades is not the answer to the challenges we face today. A program that diverges from our pro-monopoly past is necessary to create a Canadian economy that can be resilient and successful in this new era of uncertainty.

Crisis in Consolidated Markets Send U.S. Egg Prices Soaring

Egg prices in the U.S. have hit record highs as a devastating avian flu outbreak collides with the realities of a hyper-consolidated industry. Over 20 million chickens were wiped out last quarter, sending wholesale egg prices soaring to over $8.85 USD per dozen in states like California.

What makes this crisis worse is the structure of the U.S. egg market. Unlike Canada, where supply management has created a relatively more diverse market of smaller producers, the American egg industry is dominated by a handful of mega-producers like Cal-Maine and Rose Acre Farms, each managing millions of birds. When a single farm is infected, the results are mass culling and mass disruption—removing millions of eggs per day from the market.

In contrast, Canada’s smaller, distributed farm model has helped keep egg prices stable despite similar disease pressures. This system prevents the kind of market-wide shock seen in the U.S., proving that strong regulation that supports diverse markets creates more resilient supply chains in times of crisis.

The lesson here is clear: bigger isn’t always better when it comes to essential goods. The more concentrated an industry becomes, the more vulnerable it is to disruption—and the higher the costs consumers pay when things go wrong.

Big Tech and Big Brother: When Platforms Enable Dictators

Tech giants like Apple and Twitter/X have long claimed they defend free speech, but their actions tell a different story. In a blistering op-ed, Russian opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza, Yulia Navalnaya, and Ilya Yashin laid out how Big Tech companies have caved to authoritarian regimes by complying with censorship laws. Apple, for instance, removed dozens of independent media apps and VPN services from its Russian App Store—effectively handing control of information flow to the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Elon Musk’s Twitter/X has given us a masterclass in what government-driven censorship actually looks like. As Techdirt reports, Musk—who now holds a special government role—used his dual status as a government official and private platform owner to suppress speech critical of his administration. His actions included labeling criticism as "criminal" and having posts removed—exactly the kind of government interference in speech that First Amendment advocates claim to oppose.

These cases expose the double standard in how “free speech” absolutists operate. While they rail against government interference in content moderation, they’re notably silent when corporate-owned platforms actively enable state repression. The reality is that Big Tech isn’t neutral—it makes choices that shape democracy, free expression, and power dynamics worldwide.

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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