The Bloc Québécois asks Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to wait for the adoption of Bill C-56 before deciding the fate of the sale of HSBC Bank Canada to the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).
The Competition Bureau has already given its approval to the $13.5 billion transaction at the beginning of September, but the Bloc would like the regulatory body to redo the exercise a second time, when C-56 has given it strengthened powers.
“The government cannot accept that the largest Canadian bank (RBC) swallows HSBC by justifying itself with a report from the Competition Bureau when Parliament is, precisely, in the process of changing these same rules (of the competition),” argues the party’s income spokesperson, Jean-Denis Garon, in an interview.
It would be “incoherent” to approve the transaction at a time when the Trudeau government is eager to give more teeth to the Competition Bureau, adds Mr. Garon.
The Bloc supports the Liberal minority government with Bill C-56. Mr. Garon believes that the mandate of the Competition Bureau means that the organization gives too much importance to the efficiency gains gained from a merger and acquisition and that it does not pay enough attention to its effect on consumers.
Over the years and approved transactions, the criteria of the regulatory body’s mandate have harmed competition in several industries in the country, believes the member for Mirabel.
At the beginning of September, the Competition Bureau gave the green light to the transaction. He said his review found the deal was unlikely to significantly reduce competition, but he also noted the transaction would still result in the loss of a competitor in a concentrated market.
The Conservatives want to block the transaction
With this intervention, the Bloc Québécois is adopting a different approach from that of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who asked the Trudeau government to block the sale of HSBC Bank.
“We have an overly concentrated banking sector, protected by the government, which already gives too much power to too few players,” lamented the leader of the official opposition in a press release last week. We need Canadian banks to compete for customers, not buy them. »
For his part, Mr. Garon does not reject the transaction outright, even if he fears that it will reduce competition. He believes that the Competition Bureau would be in the best position to analyze the file, provided that this is done according to the provisions provided for in C-56. The Bloc MP accuses the Conservatives of being partisan with a complex subject.
“I would like the Competition Bureau to be able to analyze the effect of this purchase offer on the Quebec consumer and on the Canadian consumer, that’s what we want. We want the minister to be able to make an intelligent decision, based on something other than partisanship,” he says, pointing towards the Conservatives.
Delaying the transaction could also give more time to find a solution that would allow HSBC to divest itself of its Canadian activities, without reducing competition in the Canadian banking sector, believes Mr. Garon.
It was not possible to obtain a reaction from Ms. Freeland’s office or from RBC Bank, contacted earlier in the morning.