Monopolies Killed My Hometown

We're getting near the end of the discussion on the department and chain stores. This episode will be a look into the specific actions of the chain and department stores that worried the Commission. These behaviors were lumped into mass buying and price concessions, and competitive practices in retail trade. Price concessions are between mass buyers and suppliers, retail trade is between mass buyers and other retailers.

This is a perfect time for this episode - the Canadian Competition Bureau just announced a market study of the Canadian grocery industry. Basically, the Competition Bureau is going to look into 'competitive practices in retail trade'. again.

Note: It was 2013 when Future Shop closed.

The behaviors the Commission looked into are:

• Mass Buying and Price Concessions
  • Trade Discounts
  • Cash Discounts
  • Quantity Discounts
  • Free Deals and Premiums
  • Advertising Allowances
  • Demonstrators
• Competitive Practices in Retail Trade
  • Loss Leaders
  • Deceptive Packaging
  • Short Weighing
  • Misleading Advertising

Links from today's episode:

• Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
• 80 Pc Mastercraft Screwdriver set
• Tool Manufacturer Consolidation
• Competition Bureau Market Study
• Costco co-founder on $1.50 hot dogs
• Bread price-fixing in Canada

Welcome back everyone! In this episode I dive into my take on the Rogers/Shaw merger. Tl dr; the Competition Policy Machine worked exactly how it has been designed. I also share how I see a democratic approach to Competition policy would work for all of us.

Join CAMP February 2, 2023 at 12:00 EST for a more in-depth discussion of the Rogers/Shaw merger. Register here. Or check out a replay here.

Some quick house keeping - I am going to pause new episodes until Spring. Stay subscribed and I'll be back soon.

Links from today's episode:

• Rogers faces doubt over Shaw deal as closing date approaches
• Statement from the Commissioner of Competition on the Federal Court of Appeal's decision regarding the Rogers-Shaw merger
• Rogers, Shaw and Videotron's Cost Submissions
• Commissioner's Cost Submissions
• Globalive takes its offer to buy Freedom Mobile to Shaw
• Consultation on the future of competition policy in Canada

Welcome back to Monopolies Killed My Hometown. We're back after my little hiatus with an episode on garbage removal and how I see Municipalities contributing to the Anti-Monopoly Fight. In this episode we're looking at the Town of Amherst's tender process for the new 5-year waste removal contract. My take is that the Town of Amherst combined their tender with the Municipality of Cumberland to increase their bargaining power in order to get the best possible value for Citizens. I appreciate this goal. However this approach only solicited two tenders, and I'm certain with two bids we didn't get the lowest possible price. I explain my theory that breaking the tender into smaller pieces could have actually solicited more tenders, and perhaps a lower price for Citizens.

Some links from the episode:

• Solid Waste Collection Contract Awarded
• Miller Waste awarded 2018 Waste Removal Contract
• Municipal Group of Companies
• Miller Group
• 2023 Waste Collection Tender
• 2018 Waste Collection Tender

I'm continuing my deep dive into the Price Spreads report and it's look at the retail industry in the 1930's. This week's episode is all about department stores, specifically Eaton's, The Bay. In the 1930's Eaton's did 7% of all retail sales in Canada. Canada has a long, history with the Hudson's Bay company. I look back quickly on the history of HBC and how they used similar monopolistic tactics when they had the dominant position in the fur trading industry. And to connect back to today, I talk a lot about Amazon. I know Amazon wasn't around in the 1930's but Amazon has a lot of the same dominant characteristics and impacts today that the department stores had in the 1930's.

Links from today's episode:

• Price Spreads Report
• Episode 11 - Introduction to the Price Spreads Report
• Episode 12 - The Price Spreads Report - Retail as distribution
• Short history of Hudson's Bay Company
• Statistics on Amazon Prime
• Map of the Northwestern Territory
• Boxed Out Report, by Stacy Mitchell and Ron Knox, ILSR
• A&P by John Updike
• The Lottery by Shirley Jackson
• California Files Antitrust Lawsuit against Amazon
• From Seattle to Luxembourg: how tax schemes shaped Amazon
• Breakdown of Amazon Prime Scam - Matt Stoller

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In episode 5 of Monopolies Killed My Hometown, I actually get into the article, Trade Secrets of the Combines Detectives by Peter C. Newman from the May 24, 1958 edition of MacLean's Magazine.. Last week, in part 1, I mostly looked at the merger of Rogers Communications and MacLean Hunter. In this episode I share some about Peter C Newman's biography and history, and then I dive into the article.

I recap all the combines and price fixing agreements that the investigators found in the following industries: "oatmeal, fruits and vegetables, coffins, car accessories, matches, wire fencing, galoshes, quilted goods, eyeglasses, tires, flour, gasoline, bread, coal, cigarettes, toilet paper and false teeth."

Note: there are some transcription errors in the article, remember, 'hour' is probably 'flour'.

In the second half of the episode I think through the changes I'd like to see to the Competition Act and how we administer it. On the top of my list, I'd like to see us doing actual market studies and allowing the Commissioner to start investigations without a complaint being filed. On my wildest dreams list, I'd love to see provincial offices of the Competition Bureau be established to investigate smaller mergers and acquisitions that have an outsized impact on smaller regions of the Country. I want to make sure that our regional and local economies are working. We don't buy from the National economy, we buy from regional and local economies that build up to create the National economy.

Links from the episode:

• Peter C. Newman interview on The Hour with George Strombolopolous
• Brian Mulroney's response to Peter C Newman's "Secret Mulroney Tapes" Book - a joke from the Canadian Press Dinner in 2005
• Upper Canada College Alumni
• Bronfman Family
• The Time Jeff Bezos Went Thermonuclear on Diapers.com
• Illusion of Choice Report by American Economic Liberties Project
• Report of the Royal Commission on Price Spreads
• The State of Competition Policy in Canada: Towards an Agenda for Reform in a Digital Era, by Vass Bednar & Robin Shaban