The Royal Commission on Corporate Concentration was a royal commission created in 1975 to study corporate concentration in

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History

The commission was created by the

Canadian federal government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

under

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...

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

Privy Council of Canada The 's Privy Council for Canada (french: Conseil privé du Roi pour le Canada),) during the reign of a queen. sometimes called Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the ...

Robert Broughton Bryce of Ottawa and completed by tele-journalist

Pierre Nadeau Pierre Nadeau (19 December 19363 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 Radio-Canada. He interned at the Office de Ra ...

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 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 portfol ...

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 presented its final report in 1978. The report 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 ( ; born March 20, 1939) is 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 studied political sci ...

introduced the

Competition Act The ''Competition Act'' is a Canadian federal law governing competition law in Canada. The Act contains both Criminal law of Canada, criminal and Civil law (common law), civil provisions aimed at preventing anti-competitive practices in the econ ...

, to change Canada's competition laws.

References

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