Industry minister Mélanie Joly has decided to maintain the $93 million pre-merger threshold identifying proposed deals of which the Competition Bureau must be notified.
The minister must evaluate the threshold annually per the Competition Act’s merger provisions. The minister may do so via the indexing mechanism outlined in the Act; they may also suggest another amount to be set by regulation. Moreover, they may keep the existing threshold.
Should the threshold remain unchanged in a given year, it follows the previous year’s threshold.
Pre-merger notification enables the Competition Bureau’s commissioner to analyze a deal’s impact, supported by required information. It also aims to dodge the challenges of correcting a completed merger should it be considered anti-competitive.
All mergers must be evaluated by the bureau under the Competition Act; in particular, the bureau must generally be given advance notice of pitched deals that meet the following criteria:
- the assets of the company being acquired in Canada, or revenues from sales in, from, or into Canada generated from those assets exceed $93 million
- the combined assets in Canada or revenues from sales in, from, or into Canada generated from those assets of the parties and their affiliates exceed $400 million
The Competition Bureau examines the mergers that fall into these categories to see whether they are likely to prevent or reduce competition significantly. In January 2024, it released a procedures guide for notifiable transaction and advance ruling certificates under the Act.
The guide included an overview of relevant provisions of the Competition Act’s Part IX and the Notifiable Transactions Regulations. It also explains the bureau’s general approach on pre‑merger notification matters.
The guide details how the Act applies to proposed mergers and offers information on requests for, and issuance of, advance ruling certificates under the Act’s sections 102 and 103. Sections 111-113 of the Act highlight statutory exemptions from the Act, such as general exemptions from the need to notify where all parties are affiliates of each other.