THE U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL'S REPORT ON THE ANTITRUST LAWS IN RELATION TO MONOPOLY CONTROL IN CANADA

Abstract

This article examines the Report of the Attorney General’s National Committee to Study the Anti-trust Laws, in light of the special problems of Canadian anti-monopoly policies. First, the author assesses generally the policies behind Canada’s anti-combines legislation, and then reviews the positions of the United States and Britain in order to underline the unique relevance of American anti-trust experience to Canadian problems. Using the Report, he then evaluates the effectiveness of anti-trust policy in America, which proclaims the general goals of anti-trust policy as key to the American economy. He then scrutinizes the current Canadian argument, supposedly based on the American “rule of reason”, that for price fixing agreements to be illegal, unreasonableness should be required. He also considers the suggestion that tariff policy be integrated into anti-trust control and the effect on international trade of expanding Canadian anti-trust law.