Proven guidance on complex, high-stakes competition/antitrust, foreign investment review and consumer protection matters, delivering tailored solutions for clients navigating regulatory challenges in Canada and beyond.
Merger and foreign investment reviews, cartel investigations and follow-on claims, and other antitrust and consumer protection issues require a legal partner to work hand-in-hand to help manage the complicated and time-sensitive critical decisions that have to be made to achieve successful outcomes.
We are a key player in navigating Canada's rapidly changing regulatory landscape, offering a Canadian focus with a global perspective. Significant changes in Canada’s competition/antitrust, foreign investment, and consumer protection laws have resulted in an uptick in Competition Bureau investigations under the abuse of dominance and deceptive marketing practices provisions of the Competition Act, and enhanced rights of private action will soon take effect. Merger clearance has also become more difficult, including under the national security review provisions of the Investment Canada Act. With over ten full-time professionals across Canada, our national practice offers practical, client-focused advice that cuts through the noise, ensuring efficient and effective outcomes for businesses facing time-sensitive, high-risk challenges.
- We are consistently recognized as one of Canada’s leading competition practices by Global Competition Review GCR 100, with our lawyers routinely cited as top-tier experts in Chambers Global, Who’s Who Legal, Lexpert, and other prestigious legal surveys.
- We prioritize efficient project management and team coordination at every stage, drawing on our extensive experience and firm-wide resources—including our robust class action capabilities—to deliver practical, results-driven advice tailored to our clients’ needs.
- We advise clients across Canada and worldwide, leveraging strong relationships with leading counsel in other jurisdictions, including the United States, Europe, East Asia (particularly South Korea, Japan and Singapore), Australia and South America, collaborating seamlessly with top global competition practices to provide integrated, cross-border solutions.
- We are deeply involved in the domestic and international competition/antitrust policy communities, including leadership positions in the International Bar Association, Canadian Bar Association Competition Law Section, American Bar Association Section of Antitrust Law, the International Competition Network and Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Cartel investigations and competition related litigation
We have defended clients in major international and domestic cartel cases, including LIBOR, air cargo, automotive components, marine shipping, electronic components, retail gas, government contracting, LED traffic lights and polyurethane foam. Our involvement in matters of significant complexity means that we are familiar with the challenges that are unique to such cases, including multijurisdictional investigations and leniency applications. We are also among the very few Canadian counsel with experience in litigated cartel cases. We routinely work alongside leading international cartel defence practices in responding to global investigations.
We also provide comprehensive national defence of competition class actions, many of which follow cartel investigations in Canada or elsewhere. Significant matters include Canada-wide representation of clients in the Canadian aspects of cases relating to electronic components, DRAM, salmon products, generic pharmaceuticals, caustic soda, air cargo, air passenger, optical disk drives, lithium batteries, smart card chips, automotive components, polyurethane foam, sheet metal and other cases. Our ability to defend clients in these cases is reinforced by the firm’s bench strength in class action work in its offices in Ontario, Québec, British Columbia and Alberta.
BLG routinely represents clients in litigation before the Competition Tribunal in abuse of dominance and merger cases, as well as private damages claims. We routinely assist domestic and foreign clients in responding to Competition Bureau inquiries, including section 11 orders, search warrants and other aspects of the agency’s investigative process.
Merger review
We have successfully cleared some of Canada’s largest and most complex transactions. Our group assists clients in merger notifications, supplementary information requests (SIRs), negotiations of consent agreements with the Canadian Competition Bureau and, where necessary, litigation before the Competition Tribunal. Our industry experience is comprehensive, and includes mergers in the retail, technology, oil & gas, mining, financial services and transportation sectors. Much of our work is multijurisdictional and we routinely work with some of the world’s leading competition law practices in securing Canadian clearance of global transactions.
Foreign investment review
Foreign investment review has become a critical consideration in transactions that involve sensitive sectors, state owned/sovereign foreign investors or which are otherwise high profile. Our lawyers have had experience in navigating the Investment Canada review process in some of the most high profile and precedent setting foreign investments of recent times, including acquisitions made by foreign state owned investors. We also have high level experience in providing strategic representation and counsel with respect to related federal policies and legislation in certain sectors such as telecommunications and cultural businesses.
Distribution, pricing and marketing and advertising
We advise clients on distribution, pricing, and consumer protection matters. Much of our work has been in the retail area, where we act for some of Canada’s leading retailers. We also provide marketing and advertising law representation in collaboration with our national advertising, marketing and sponsorship law practice.
