2025-2026 Annual Plan – Strengthening competition in a changing economy

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May 15, 2025

Table of contents

Message from the Commissioner

I am pleased to present the Competition Bureau’s Annual Plan for 2025-2026, which comes at a pivotal moment for competition in Canada.

The Canadian economy is rapidly evolving, and we are seeing shifts in trade, market dynamics and technology that are reshaping how business is done. As we navigate this landscape, our mission to protect and promote competition remains as vital as ever.

In the coming fiscal year, we will continue to build on the strong foundation laid by recent changes to the Competition Act. These changes give us tools to better protect Canadians from anti-competitive conduct and to enforce and promote the Competition Act effectively in today’s economy.

The three pillars of our Strategic Vision—protecting Canadians through enforcement, promoting competition in Canada, and investing in our organization—will continue to guide us through a time filled with change and transition.

On the enforcement side, we will continue to apply our strengthened legal tools to prevent, detect, and stop anti-competitive practices that harm consumers and businesses. We will remain focused on the sectors that have the most direct impact on affordability.

On the promotion side, we will advocate for policies that encourage – rather than inhibit – market dynamism. We’ll conduct sector-specific market studies and consultations to identify areas where competition can be improved. We will champion and promote a whole-of-government approach to competition.

Finally, as Canada’s economy becomes more interconnected and digital, and artificial intelligence brings unique challenges and opportunities, we must keep pace with these changes. We will continue to invest in our people and in the tools they need to protect Canadians and keep competition fair in Canada. We will foster a workplace culture that is diverse and inclusive, and that provides ongoing professional development for our staff. At the same time, we will ensure our enforcement strategies remain agile, data-driven, and informed by technological advancements.

By fully leveraging our strengthened laws and taking a proactive approach, we will continue to deliver meaningful outcomes for Canadians, empower consumers, and foster a competitive economy for the benefit of all.

Matthew Boswell
Commissioner of Competition

Protecting Canadians through enforcement action

Strategic Vision

Desired outcomes

  • Consumers and businesses enjoy the benefits of competition, particularly in key sectors of the economy that matter most to Canadians.
  • Anti-competitive activity is detected and addressed early.
  • New and innovative tools are used to enhance our capabilities to process large volumes of data and digital evidence, enabling investigations to hone in on probative evidence more quickly.

Objectives

  • Take timely action on matters that are important to Canadians using all the tools at our disposal.
  • Increase proactive enforcement and leverage amendments to the Competition Act to better protect Canadians from anti-competitive activity.
  • Be a leader in the gathering, processing and analyzing of data and digital evidence.

What we will do in 2025-2026

  • Use all available tools to prevent, identify, and address anti-competitive activity.
    • Make the most of the new changes to the Competition Act to stop anti-competitive activity. This includes being ready to take cases to court, and using all measures to stop anti-competitive activity as quickly as possible.
    • Deliver comprehensive and timely updates of our enforcement guidelines to align with the new legislation.
    • Ensure the merger program has sustainable long-term funding so we can investigate and assess mergers effectively.
    • Use the expertise of the Digital Enforcement and Intelligence Branch to strengthen our work at every stage of an investigation.
  • Focus on sectors of the economy that matter to Canadians.
    • Continue focusing on important sectors such as online marketing, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, financial services, health, and infrastructure.
    • Prioritize investigations of anti-competitive conduct and mergers that make everyday life less affordable for Canadians, such as those that impact food and housing costs.
    • Continue to crack down on deceptive marketing practices concerning environmental claims (“greenwashing”) and unattainable pricing in the form of drip pricing.
    • Strengthen private access to the Competition Tribunal by monitoring cases, updating guidance, and intervening on key legal issues to support greater competition.

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Promoting competition in Canada

Strategic Vision

Desired outcomes

  • Regulators and policymakers, at all levels of government, give increased consideration to competition when designing, reviewing and amending regulations and policies.
  • We have a stronger role and presence on the domestic and international stage to enhance the Bureau’s enforcement and promotion efforts.
  • Our expertise contributes to positioning the Canadian economy for success in the digital age.
  • Businesses of all sizes are aware of their obligations under Canada’s competition and labelling laws.
  • Consumers and businesses are aware of how they can protect themselves from anti-competitive and deceptive practices.

Objectives

  • Seize opportunities to encourage competition and innovation in areas that matter to Canadians, particularly through championing a whole-of-government approach to enhancing competition.
  • Play a leadership role, both domestically and internationally, in adapting to the impact of the digital economy on competition policy.
  • Build awareness of consumer and competition issues through enhanced plain language and inclusive communication, outreach and engagement.

What we will do in 2025-2026

  • Encourage policymakers and regulators to adopt pro-competitive policies that drive economic growth.
    • Advocate for pro-competitive policies at all levels of government to drive productivity and economic growth. This includes empowering policymakers with the tools – such as the Competition Assessment Toolkit - to address regulatory barriers to competition, including interprovincial trade barriers.
  • Advocate for increased competition in sectors that matter to Canadians.
    • Launch a new market study under the revised powers of the Competition Act.
    • Promote the benefits of data portability (the ability to move personal data safely and easily between different online services) and support policies that give consumers more power over their data in the digital world.
    • Launch a consultation and initiate research on the use of algorithmic pricing in the Canadian economy and its impact on competition and consumers.
  • Create and deepen international and domestic relationships.
    • Take an active role in international organizations and networks to lead efforts in advancing competition enforcement and policy. Continue to seek new global partnerships focussed on the future of competition enforcement.
    • Work closely with domestic partners – including the Canadian Digital Regulators Forum - and explore new ways to collaborate, share information, and identify best practices.
    • Contribute to competition-focused efforts under Canada's G7 Presidency.
  • Increase our outreach and promotion efforts to engage a wider and more diverse audience of Canadian consumers and businesses.
    • Help Canadians recognize and protect themselves from illegal activities through awareness campaigns, stakeholder outreach, and targeted communications.
    • Increase the reach of our bid-rigging awareness work with government partners, making sure it is available to everyone involved in procurement at all levels of government.
    • Make sure our competition promotion and enforcement efforts are easy to access. This includes continuing to use plain language, and being open and transparent where possible.
    • Promote compliance by improving our resources, guidance, and stakeholder relationships. This includes promoting our Compliance Bootcamp and new Compliance Hub to help businesses understand and follow competition and labelling laws.

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Investing in our organization

Strategic Vision

Desired outcomes

  • Our organization fosters a healthy and positive workplace that embraces diversity, accessibility, inclusion, official languages, innovation, ethics and teamwork.
  • Our employees have the right skills and technology to enhance our enforcement activities and keep pace in the digital economy.
  • Our workforce is comprised of individuals with diverse experience and expertise relevant to digital enforcement and promotion.

Objectives

  • Support continuous learning and development of our people while encouraging a culture of well-being, particularly by empowering employees to contribute to decision-making and innovative practices.
  • Modernize our processes and technology to work more effectively and keep pace with the digital economy.
  • Recruit from diverse educational and professional backgrounds to ensure that our organization benefits from wide-reaching expertise and varying perspectives.

What we will do in 2025-2026

  • Make employee health and safety a top priority in our work.
    • Prioritize employee health and wellness by strengthening our culture of well-being through formal training, learning, and wellness initiatives that support physical and mental health.
    • Adapt how we work to remain inclusive and accessible while navigating change in the upcoming year.
  • Promote reconciliation, equity, accessibility, diversity, inclusion, and support for official languages throughout our organization.
    • Equip managers at all levels with the tools and training necessary to supervise employees and lead their teams inclusively.
    • Foster a culture of bilingualism across the organization. Implement initiatives, such as targeted learning opportunities, mentorship programs as well as recognizing achievements to actively promote and increase bilingualism within the organization.
    • Address all representation gaps across our organization to better reflect and benefit from the diversity of the Canadian population.
  • Ensure our capabilities keep up with new business practices, enforcement strategies, and technology.
    • Equip our organization with the tools and training needed for enforcement and promotion in an ever-changing digital economy, including on the effective use of the legislative changes to the Competition Act.
    • Continue to leverage diverse expertise and expand the secure use of artificial intelligence technologies in our work to protect and promote competition.
    • Modernize our systems and procedures to unify and streamline data management practices, to ensure high-quality, secure, and accessible data to support enforcement and promotion efforts.
    • Implement our Data Governance Program to improve how we manage data to enforce and promote competition law.
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