On August 17, 2022, Canada's Federal Court of Appeal agreed with a growing consensus of lower courts that section 45 of the Competition Act does not apply to "buy-side" conspiracies, such as agreements between employers with respect to employee wages. The court's decision (Mohr v. National Hockey League, 2022 FCA 145) should end the debate on the proposed application of section 45 to this issue. Businesses can take some comfort that "buy-side" agreements will not attract liability under section 45. However, the comfort may be temporary, at least in part, because employers will face possible liability for no-poach or wage-fixing agreements owing to changes to the Competition Act which come into force on June 23, 2023. Our previous insight, First Round of Competition Act Amendments Now in Force, details those amendments.
The Decision
The appellant commenced a class proceeding alleging that the respondent hockey leagues had conspired to limit the opportunities of hockey players to play in junior and professional hockey leagues, contrary to section 48 of the Competition Act. In response to the respondents' motion to strike, the appellant moved to amend, seeking...
