Competition Bureau flexes new powers to get Air Canada, WestJet docs

The Competition Bureau is using new powers granted by the federal government to compel information from Air Canada and WestJet as part of a probe into the Canadian airline sector.
Canada’s competition watchdog said Thursday that it obtained two Federal Court orders requiring Air Canada and WestJet to provide information for the study launched in July.
That report will look into whether more competition in the airline industry could improve the sector and lower airfares for customers.
Together, Air Canada and WestJet account for 80 per cent of capacity in the Canadian airline industry, as measured by the sector’s seat-kilometres metric.
With those airlines scaling back their operations regionally — WestJet focusing efforts in the west and Air Canada to the east — and upstart airlines like Lynx Air collapsing or struggling after takeoff, the competition watchdog is looking at whether Canada’s aviation policy is lacking when it comes to introducing and supporting new entrants.
The two court orders will help the Competition Bureau obtain internal documents detailing how Air Canada and WestJet view competition in the sector, as well as their agreements with airports and any shares they might hold in other domestic airlines.
The study is not an investigation into particular wrongdoing on any airlines’ part.
The Competition Bureau says the move marks the first time it has used expanded powers to compel corporations to provide information for its market studies, something granted by the Liberal government this past fall as part of a wider bid to improve competition — and by extension, affordability — in Canada.
The inability to compel documents from study participants was cited as an obstacle in the watchdog’s probe of competition in the grocery sector in 2023.