The Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration was a

royal commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

created in 1975 to study corporate concentration in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

History

The commission was created by the

Canadian federal government The Government of Canada (), formally His Majesty's Government (), is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. The term ''Government of Canada'' refers specifically to the executive, which includes ministers of the Crown ...

under

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

through Part I of the '' Inquiries Act'' by Order in Council of 1 May 1975, P.C. 1975–999, to study corporate concentration in Canada. It was created in the wake of a failed attempt by

Power Corporation of Canada Power Corporation of Canada is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a portfolio ...

to gain control over

Argus Corporation The Argus Corporation was an investment holding company based in Toronto, Ontario. During the 1960s and 1970s, it was the most powerful and best known conglomerate in Canada, at one time controlling the companies making up 10 percent of all shar ...

. The commission, which was chaired by retired clerk of the

Privy Council of Canada The King's Privy Council for Canada (), sometimes called His Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal advisors to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs. Practically, ...

Robert Broughton Bryce of Ottawa and completed by tele-journalist

Pierre Nadeau Pierre Nadeau (; 19 December 1936 – 3 September 2019) was a Canadian journalist, television presenter and producer. He began in journalism as a radio reporter in 1956, inspired by his father's work with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Rad ...

of Montreal, and lawyer Robert Warren Vincent Dickerson of Vancouver, was tasked with studying the nature and effect of corporate concentration, its economic and social implications, and whether any safeguards were required to protect the public interest; Dickerson had been in 1971 the lead co-author of ''Proposals for a New Business Corporations Law for Canada''. The commission presented its final report in 1978, which made a number of recommendation but also concluded that no "radical changes" in laws governing corporate activity were required at the time.

Influence

In 1986, the federal government of

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney (March 20, 1939 – February 29, 2024) was a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studi ...

introduced the ''

Competition Act The ''Competition Act'' () is a Canadian federal law governing competition in Canada. The Act contains both criminal and civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the marketplace. Along with the ''Competition Tribunal ...

'', to change Canada's competition laws.

References

Royal commissions in Canada Political history of Canada Canadian competition law {{Canada-gov-stub