The Canadian Competition Act in the Digital Era
Webinar with Edward Iacobucci, Navin Joneja and The Honourable Howard Wetston
Sponsored by:
Join the C.D. Howe Institute to hear a panel of eminent speakers discuss whether/how the Canadian Competition Act should be amended to account for changes in the Canadian economy/society as a result of digitalization.
C.D. Howe Institute events are open to members and their guests.
Please follow this link or contact events@cdhowe.org to register.
Edward Iacobucci, Professor & TSE Chair in Capital Markets, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Edward M. Iacobucci, B.A. (Hons.) (Queen's) 1991; M.Phil. (Oxon.) 1993 (Rhodes Scholar, Ontario); LL.B. (Toronto) 1996, is Professor and TSE Chair in Capital Markets at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, was Dean from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2020 and James M. Tory Professor of Law on January 1, 2015. Prior to this appointment he was Osler Chair in Business Law and Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, and Associate Dean, Research. He started at the Faculty of Law in 1998. He was a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University School of Law in 2010 and 2018, Visiting Professor, NYU@NUS Program in 2014, Visiting Professor at New York University Law School in 2007, Visiting Professor at University of Chicago Law School in 2003, and a John M. Olin Visiting Fellow at Columbia University Law School in 2002. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, he was the John M. Olin Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia in 1997-98 and served as Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada for Mr. Justice John Sopinka in 1996-97. He won a teaching prize at the Faculty of Law in 2000 and was a joint winner with his co-authors of the 2002-3 Doug Purvis Prize in Canadian Economics for The Law and Economics of Canadian Competition Policy. His areas of interest include corporate law, competition law, and law and economics more generally.
Navin Joneja, Co-Chair of the Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Group, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Navin is a Partner and Co-Chair of Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group, widely regarded as one of Canada’s preeminent competition law practices. Consistently ranked as a leading competition law practitioner, Navin is described in leading publications as providing “very practical and timely advice” who delivers “great client service.” He is recognized as an “outstanding analytical thinker” who is “deeply competent with respect to agency strategy.” Navin’s clients rely on him for timely and creative advice on domestic and multinational mergers, joint ventures, strategic alliances, cartels, abuse of dominance investigations, class actions and compliance programs. He is also considered an expert on Canada’s foreign investment laws and regulations, including those pertaining to national security and state-owned enterprises.
Navin is the immediate past chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s National Competition Law Section and current sits on the CBA’s Competition Law Section Executive Committee. He has authored numerous publications on competition law and foreign investment, including with respect to international cooperation in mergers, monopolization and cartel investigations, the interface between intellectual property and competition, and competition litigation. He recently published an insightful article in Competition Policy International entitled: Skating on Thin Ice: Why Canadian Competition Policy Should Not Be Determined by U.S. Antitrust Enforcement.
Prior to joining Blakes in 2003, Navin practiced law with a multinational law firm in Washington, D.C., for several years.
The Honourable Howard Wetston, Senator, Senate of Canada
Mr. Wetston is a respected public servant and a distinguished lawyer, jurist, regulator and executive. He is one of Canada’s most prominent leaders in administrative law and regulation with deep expertise in securities, energy, competition and other regulated industries.
He was the Chair & CEO of the Ontario Securities Commission from 2010 - 2015, was the Chair & CEO of the Ontario Energy Board from 2003 to 2010, and was a Vice-Chair of the OSC from 1999 to 2004. The OSC and OEB are two of the largest and most complex industry regulators in Canada.
In addition to his duties during his term as OSC Chair, Mr. Wetston was a Vice Chair of the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) from 2013 - 2015. IOSCO is the leading international policy forum for securities regulators and is recognized as the global standard setter for securities regulation.
Mr. Wetston was granted the title “Honourable” after an exemplary six years as a Trial Judge at the Federal Court of Canada and Ex-officio Judge of its Appeal Division.
He was appointed Q.C. during his seven years as a prominent regulator working up to the level of Director of Investigations & Research (now Commissioner of Competition) at the federal government’s Bureau of Competition Policy.
He spent the first 12 years of his career as a lawyer achieving the positions of General Counsel at the Canadian Transport Commission and Assistant General Counsel at the National Energy Board. Mr. Wetston was also General Counsel and Program Director at the Consumers’ Association of Canada. Before that, he was a Crown Counsel in Nova Scotia and at the federal Department of Justice. He has worked in private practice in the joint office of a Montreal and Calgary firm and articled in private practice in Halifax.
In addition, Mr. Wetston is a member of the Advisory Board for The Program on Ethics in Law and Business at the University of Toronto and is a member of the Shannon School of Business Advisory Board at Cape Breton University. He was a lecturer of competition law and regulated industries at the University of Ottawa for seven years. He was a member of the Board of Directors of Mount Sinai Hospital from 2004 – 2014, and is presently on the Patient Safety and Quality Committee of Mount Sinai Hospital.
Mr. Wetston holds an LL.B. from Dalhousie and a B.Sc. from Mount Allison and has been called to the Bar in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta. He holds the ICD.D designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from Cape Breton University and Dalhousie University. He is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2014, he received special recognition as a Board Diversity Champion from Catalyst Canada Honours.
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