The Competition Bureau will not have another chance to prevent Rogers Communications from acquiring Shaw Communications, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled on Tuesday.
Judge David Stratas determined that the Competition Bureau’s arguments were not sufficient to overturn the December decision of the Competition Tribunal, which had approved the marriage between the two telecommunications groups, a transaction valued at 26 billions of dollars.
“It is not enough to pull the leaves and the branches and leave the tree standing, rather the whole tree must fall,” he said in his decision rendered on the bench, even before until the companies concerned have given their response.
The Competition Tribunal made it clear that the transaction was unlikely to prevent or lessen competition substantially, and its decision was supported by ample evidence, Justice Stratas said.
Legal issues
“Even if the Competition Tribunal had been wrong on the narrow points of law that the Commissioner is now raising in this court, we are not persuaded that the outcome would be any different. It is therefore unnecessary to refer this matter to the Competition Tribunal. »
The Bureau’s arguments focused on what they considered to be four key legal errors about the role of Shaw’s wireless carrier Freedom Mobile’s proposed sale to Videotron in the court’s decision.
Some of the issues raised by the Competition Bureau have been challenged as a combination of questions of fact and law, while the Court of Appeal can only consider questions of law, Justice Stratas pointed out.
“The commissioner seems to invite us to reassess the evidence, which we cannot do. »
The deal, which Rogers hopes to close by Jan. 31, still requires approval from federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne.
The minister said in a statement that he was reviewing the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision and would make a decision on the deal in due course.
“The promotion of competition and affordability in the telecommunications sector has always been, and remains, my top priority,” said Mr. Champagne.
The Competition Tribunal approved the deal on December 30, after more than four weeks of hearings. Rogers and Shaw first announced their deal in March 2021.