January 2015 Mergers and competition

Rothstein’s majority decision in a 6-1 ruling in Tervita Corp. v. Canada (Commissioner of Competition), a case about a merger of waste facilities in British Columbia, was a “hugely significant decision” on the framework for permitting mergers between companies and the effects that might have on competition, says University of Montreal law professor Paul Daly.

Rothstein wrote: “A distinction should be drawn between efficiencies claimed because a merging party would be able to bring those efficiencies into being faster than would be the case but for the merger (what could be called “early-mover” efficiencies), and efficiencies that a merging party could realize sooner than a competitor only because the competitor would be delayed in implementing those efficiencies because of legal proceedings associated with a divestiture order.”