e30: This is going to be the last episode I do of Monopolies Killed My Hometown, thank you for listening to the podcast. In this last episode I want to bring on Keldon Bester and Robin Shaban two of the other co-founders of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project.

CAMP is growing and we need help from you and other Canadians. In this interview Keldon, Robin and I talk about the background of CAMP, and how you can get involved in the Anti-Monopoly Movement and with CAMP.

Follow CAMP on all the socials, sign up for the CAMP Newsletter, and reach out for a conversation.

Again - thank you for listening. Thank you to Connor and the rest of the Podstarter.io team for producing and help develop this podcast.

e29: In this week's episode I look at a lot of the great things happening in the anti-monopoly world currently. There appears to be a sea-change towards monopolies and consolidated power occurring. It's small, it's fragile, it could be the start of something big, or big business could fight back and stamp it. I know how I want the future to play out, I just can't say exactly how things will go. In that spirit, I want to acknowledge and celebrate the wins and successes we're having so far.

Links from today's episode:

• e09: The Efficiencies Defense - Let's Not Keep It.
• CAMP's breakdown of bills to amend The Competition Act
• Future of Canada's Competition Policy Consultation – What We Heard Report

e28: In this episode we're looking at two topics - the Canning Industry in the 1930's and more on the Rogers/Shaw merger.  We're going to start with the investigation the Price Spreads Commission did into the canning industry in the 1930s. This section has everything we've looked at so far in this podcast - mass buyers, high shipping costs, vertical integration, secret rebates, side deals, people and farmers getting screwed. All of it seems to come together in the canning industry.

The second half we're going to look at the Rogers/Shaw merger again. Turns out that Videotron has gone back to the Federal government to ask Rogers to fulfill their obligations from the divestiture. We're not even 6 months out from the merger! Second, the Competition Tribunal has awarded Rogers/Shaw about $13 million in costs. We need to pay Rogers/Shaw $13 million. WOW! The Tribunal also said Commissioner Matthew Boswell was unreasonable. I have many thoughts on the Tribunal's ruling.

Links:

• Timeline of Rogers-Shaw deal
• Quebecor asks industry minister to intervene in dispute with Rogers over MVNO rates
• Tribunal's cost ruling in Rogers-Shaw case

e27:  Apologies on this delayed episode. I was on holiday and didn't get this pulled together before I went away. This episode we're back to the Royal Commission on Price Spreads and their analysis of the Agricultural Implement Industry - basically, tractors, combines, and other farming equipment. Unsurprisingly, the Commission found there was only 3 major equipment dealers and they were extracting excess profits out of the Farmer's. This either drove up food costs or drove farms out of business. 

I argue that manufacturers are extracting excess profits out of farmers today. One way is by not allowing farmers to fix their own equipment.  Did you know that a farmer can break copyright law by fixing their own tractor? Weird, huh? This also applies to the rest of us when we try to fix cars, cell phones, tvs, appliances and other consumer items.  These excess profits eventually end up being paid by us at the grocery store. The 'Right-to-Repair' movement is pushing hard to fix this and let farmers and people fix their own equipment and goods. 

Links from this episode:

• Farmers seeking 'right to repair' rules to fix their own tractors gain White House ally
• Farmers need right to repair their own equipment
• John Deere commits to letting farmers repair their own equipment (kind of)
• We Cant's Let John Deere Destroy the Concept of Ownership
• Here's One Reason US Military Can't Repair Its Own Equipment
• Learn About Right to Repair - ISED and the Competition Bureau
• Canadian Equipment Dealers Asked to be Exempt from Right to Repair

Welcome back to more real estate discussions. This week we are talking about unfair access to capital and how I suspect it is contributing to our unaffordable housing crisis in Canada. We've set up a system in Canada where the largest real estate players have the ability to access more capital and cheaper capital than smaller real estate developers. Capital is one of the largest barriers to entry into the development industry. is a similar dynamic to independent retailers trying to compete with the dominant retailers like Wal-Mart, LoBlaws, Amazon and so on. I dive into two rule changes that we made that allow REITs to grow into the dominant landlords they are, and how I see it has attracted capital in to our largest centers and left rural areas behind.

If you want more Canadian Anti-Monopoly news sign up for the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project weekly newsletter.

Links from today's episode:

• Real Estate Investment Trusts in Canada
• Canadian REITs
• One study said happiness peaked at $75,000 in income. Now, economists say its higher - by a lot.

I planned on moving on to a different topic, but I'm going to stick with housing for now. Last week I looked at concentration in the building supply industry and how it could increase cost of housing. This week I'm looking at concentration in the real estate development industry and that potential impact on the supply of housing. CMHC issued their report in 2022 and said we need to build 5.8 million new homes by 2030, we were on pace to build 2.3 million and need to add on another 3.5 million homes. My question is who is going to build those homes? 

The short answer is always the generic 'private sector'. Housing is challenging to look at from a Competition Bureau perspective because so much is done at the Municipal level. Plus it's hard to define the competitive market. Does Toronto real estate compete with Ottawa? What about Halifax and Dartmouth? But I think the Municipalities and Provinces can and should look at the market dynamics of their development industries and act to increase the capacity of their real estate development industries by acting to encourage new entrants. And the Federal Government has their own ways they can act to increase supply of housing.

Error from the episode: It was Upton Sinclair, not Ralph Waldo Emerson who said "it's hard to get a man to understand something their wallet depends on them not understanding."

Links from episode:

• We're all to blame for Canada's brutal housing market
• Social Housing Construction Graph
• e24 on housing
• CMHC Housing Portal
• De Beers Market Share
• A Democratic Vision for Antitrust

We're going to take a break from the Price Spreads Report in this episode. Instead I want to talk housing, construction and consolidation. I come from the Construction/Real Estate Industry, and have lots to say on this issue. It's fair to say we have a housing affordability crisis in Canada, and in this episode I dive into how I see consolidation in the building supply industry has contributed to this problem.

I first wrote about this in December 2021 in my newsletter, and I want to revisit this because St Gobain, the parent company of Certainteed, has reached an agreement to buy Building Products of Canada (BP).  Certainteed and BP manufacture two of the readily available lines of asphalt shingles in Canada. We're looking at less competition in this industry, which can lead to higher prices for new construction, renovations and repairs. Ultimately this makes the housing more expensive.

This ties into the fundamental issue I have with the current plan to solve our problem by increasing the supply of housing significantly. We don't talk about the cost of the new supply, we just assume more supply will lower the price. BUT, if the average cost of a house in Canada is $500,000, how many $600,000 houses do we need to build to lower the average price? Mathematically this can never work. We need to build below average cost housing to lower the price of housing. 

If we allow consoldiation in the building supply industry, at both the retail and wholesale levels, and this raises the cost to build new housing, how can we solve the crisis?

Links from today's episode:

• About Affordable Housing in Canada - CMHC
• St Gobain buys Kaycan
• Canada needs 5.8 million new homes by 2030 to tackle affordability crisis, CMHC warns
• Insights into Housing Supply in Canada's largest Cities
• Non-profit scoops up 5 apartment buildings in HRM for affordable housing
• IKO was founded by the Koschitzky Family

We're back to the Price Spreads Report, and this time we are focused on the Meat Packing Industry. This section fascinated me. I loved the commissions discussion about the largest meat packing companies expanding into and losing money in other business lines, like creameries. The commission found that the profits from the meat packing industry subsidized those losses, but those losses also harmed other industries. How can a small creamery compete with another creamery that can afford to lose money every year? And how can a small business today compete against companies that can lose money? 

My favourite facts from the episode - In 1933, the top 2 companies - Canada Packers Limited and the Swift Canadian Company - had 85% of the sales in the industry. In 2021, the top 2 companies - JBL and Cargill - had 85% of the sales. Hmmm... The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Links from today's episode:

• The G Word with Adam Connover
• The Feasibility of Small Local Meat Packing Plants in Canada
• Let's talk turkey about competition in Canada's beef packing industry - Senator Simons
• Teachers' sells 10% of Maple Leaf Foods
• Grocery CEOs deny accusations that food price inflation is driven by profit mongering

In this week's episode we go back to the Price Spreads Report and look at the behavior of the Tobacco industry. Tobacco was dominated by one major player and they used many abusive practices to tilt the market in their favour, and a lot of these practices are still happening today.

Links:

• Over 60% of shoppers start their search on Amazon
• The CSCA Retail 100 (2021)
• Amazon's strategy to squeeze marketplace sellers and maximize its own profits
• Basically everyone on Amazon has become an ad

I'm heading back to the Royal Commission on Price Spreads Report from 1934, specifically to look at the Chapter on Industry.

I wanted to look back at this chapter specifically for two reasons. First, the switch to a consumer welfare focus to our competition and anti-trust laws reduced people to only consumers. It removed any considerations about all the other roles people play in their lives like, friend, family member, business owner, worker, community member. It put the focus solely on our ability to spend money. This chapter on industry brought in so many of those other roles.

Second, Amherst historically had a large manufacturing base, and at the turn of the 20th century Amherst was known as "busy" Amherst. We've had plants that manufacture train cars, pants, trunks and baggage, boots, wool, steel i-beams, airplane parts, license plates, appliances, windows and doors, plastic bags, amongst many others. 

Enjoy the introductory episode on Industry.

Links:

• Historic Amherst
• Robb's Engineering
• Looking back to Canada's home front when yellow aircraft dominated the skies
• Cory Doctorow on Google