Competition Litigation

Blakes competition litigators play a key role in Canada’s largest and most experienced competition law practice. Blakes is frequently at the forefront of high-profile competition litigation matters, including contentious mergers, class actions, deceptive marketing, advertising, abuse of dominance, competitor collaborations, reviewable trade practices and other civil matters before the Canadian Competition Tribunal, the provincial and federal courts and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Our lawyers have litigated many of Canada’s most high-profile Competition Act (Act) cases. These include the first abuse of dominance case to reach the Supreme Court of Canada, the only Federal Court of Appeal decision to address patents under the Act, the only (civil) price maintenance case, the first case considering the Act’s competitor collaboration provisions, the only appellate level case on the application of the Act’s cartel provisions to agreements between purchasers of goods or services, the only Competition Tribunal case to address the Regulated Conduct Doctrine, and numerous cases developing standards for cartel prosecutions and class action certification and defences in the cartel context, including in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Blakes litigators are extensively involved in the increasingly important area of antitrust class actions. We have represented defendants in leading antitrust class actions, including the Supreme Court of Canada’s seminal Pro-Sys and Godfrey decisions. We have also had leading roles in almost every significant competition class action in Canada, including cases regarding air cargo, aluminum, audio-video parts, auto parts, beef, beer, bread, capacitors, carpet and carpet underlay, car carrier services, caustic soda, cellular technology, chemicals, chocolate, computer operating systems and applications, credit cards, CRTs, DRAM memory chips, fragrances, gasoline, hydrogen peroxide, LCDs, lithium ion batteries, modem chips, ODDs, polyurethane foam, real estate commissions, rubber, steel, tires and vitamins. Our lawyers have also been involved in every major cartel investigation in Canada and have secured immunity and leniency in relation to some of Canada's most high-profile cartel cases.

Blakes is also at the forefront of competition merger litigation. There are nine merger cases that form the primary body of merger jurisprudence in Canada, and we represented the parties in eight cases. In addition, Blakes represented United Continental Airlines (regarding its alliance agreements with Air Canada) before the Competition Tribunal. As well, Blakes lawyers have acted as litigation counsel in some of the most vigorously contested merger “consent order” cases where there was concerted opposition by intervenors such as Chapters/Indigo, Interac, Lafarge/Blue Circle, Bayer/Aventis and Imperial Oil, as well as acting in the second ever successful mediation in GFL/Tervita, and numerous merger matters resolved by consent agreements.

As a leading competition law firm, we have represented numerous clients in connection with confidential abuse of dominance investigations or inquiries conducted by the Competition Bureau, some of which became public upon proceeding to litigation, such as Air Canada/CanJet, E-books, Nutrasweet, Tele-Direct and Vancouver Airport Authority. We acted as lead counsel in the Federal Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada in Canada Pipe, the first of only two abuse of dominance cases to go to those courts, and the Supreme Court of Canada in the only other such abuse of dominance case, TRREB. In addition, Blakes litigators acted for Visa Inc. in respect of a landmark Competition Tribunal case under the reviewable price maintenance provision of the Act and have represented clients in refusal-to-deal cases that went to the Competition Tribunal, such as Fred Deeley and Wyeth.

We are at the forefront of deceptive marketing and advertising cases, representing companies such as: Bell Aliant in the successful defence of an injunction relating to misleading advertising claims; The Yellow Pages Group in a landmark prosecution by the Commissioner against a company that was misrepresenting itself as Yellow Pages; Ford in the successful defence of a class action alleging fuel consumption misrepresentation contrary to the Competition Act; and the Commissioner of Competition in his investigation of Facebook and of FlightHub/JustFly, the latter resulting in the first temporary consent agreement under the Act. Blakes lawyers have acted in deceptive marketing class actions in provincial superior courts for numerous clients such as Air Canada, Booking.com, Clark, Dollarama, DoorDash, Epic Games, Jean Coutu, Lenovo and Nintendo.

Much of the Firm's litigation practice involves strategic advice to best position our clients for success in the event of litigation. We also work to prevent problems before they lead to litigation by providing expert advice on structuring business transactions and conducting business affairs.

Recent Experience

DoorDash Inc. in its defence against allegations of deceptive marketing, including drip pricing, by the Commissioner of Competition before the Competition Tribunal.
BCE Inc. and the Commissioner of Competition in connection with the contested merger between Rogers Communications Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc.
Olin Corporation in class actions brought before the Quebec Superior Court and the Federal Court, involving alleged price and production-fixing of caustic soda.
Hirschvogel Gmbh in class actions in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec involving alleged price-fixing of forged steel and aluminum products.
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board in a class action in the Federal Court regarding alleged price-fixing through real estate association rules.
Givaudan SA in class actions in the Federal Court and in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec involving alleged price-fixing in the fragrance industry.
Tyson Foods Inc. in class actions in British Columbia and Quebec regarding alleged price fixing in the beef industry.
The Toronto Real Estate Board in its appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada in connection with a Competition Bureau challenge under the Competition Act.
Dow Chemical in its C$1-billion-plus litigation with NOVA Chemicals Corporation with respect to operation of facilities under a joint venture.
Samsung Electronics Canada Inc. in connection with the scope of competition law class actions and the tests for certification of such actions (Pioneer Corp. v. Godfrey).
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. with respect to various class action proceedings in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec involving alleged price-fixing with respect to optical disk drives in violation of the Competition Act.
Qualcomm Incorporated in respect of national class actions related to cell-phone technology.
Labatt Brewing Company Limited with respect to a class action brought in Ontario against the LCBO, The Beer Store and a certain number of Labatt shareholders.
Office Depot, Inc. with respect to the Competition Bureau’s challenge of its merger with Staples, Inc.
Nestlé Canada Inc. in its successful defence of alleged violations of the criminal conspiracy provisions of the Competition Act and in defence of a national class action alleging conspiracy to fix prices of chocolate.
Microsoft Corporation with respect to a class action alleging anti-competitive conduct with respect to operating systems and applications software.
Visa Canada Inc. in its successful defence of a price maintenance application filed by the Commissioner of Competition and defending and resolving national class actions.
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. with respect to class action proceedings in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec involving alleged price-fixing regarding RoRo car carrier services.
Mohawk Industries, Inc. in a class action brought against manufacturers of carpet and carpet underlay foam in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec in respect of alleged price-fixing.
Imperial Oil before the Alberta Court of Appeal, where the trial decision concerning a civil conspiracy claim under the Competition Act was successfully reversed (321665 Alberta Ltd. v. Husky Oil Operations Ltd.).
Clients in various industries to defend them against cartel prosecutions and class actions in respect of (numerous) auto parts, audio-video products, car carrier (vessel) services, chemicals, flooring, insulation, vitamins and, most recently, for global companies such as Autoliv, Mitsui OSK, Mohawk Industries and Yazaki, successfully securing dismissals, immunity or leniency and other resolutions.

Awards & Recognition

The Globe and Mail and Statista name Blakes the #1 firm for Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investments in Canada’s Best Law Firms 2025.
Members of our Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group are consistently ranked as leading practitioners in the following publications, including in the most recent editions:

Chambers Canada: Canada’s Leading Lawyers for Business (Competition/Antitrust) – Ranks Blakes in Band 1, its top tier, and recognizes Cassandra Brown, Brian Facey, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja, Julie Soloway, Micah Wood and Kevin MacDonald as leading lawyers.
The Legal 500 Canada (Competition and Antitrust) – Ranks Blakes in its top tier and recognizes Cassandra Brown, Brian Facey, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja, Julie Soloway and Kevin MacDonald as leading lawyers.
Global Competition Review’s GCR 100 – Ranks the Blakes Competition, Antitrust & Foreign Investment group in the “Elite” category, the review’s highest designation.
Lexology Index: Foreign Investment Control – Recognizes Cassandra Brown, Brian Facey, Navin Joneja and Julie Soloway as leading regulatory and transactional lawyers.
Lexology Index: Competition – Recognizes Cassandra Brown, Brian Facey, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja, Kevin MacDonald, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood as leading lawyers and Jonathan Bitran as a Future Leader.
Lexology Index: Thought Leaders – Competition – Recognizes Brian Facey, Navin Joneja and Julie Soloway.
Lexology Index: Canada (Competition) – Recognizes Cassandra Brown, Brian Facey, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja, Kevin MacDonald, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood as leading lawyers across the country.
The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Competition Law) – Ranks Blakes in its top tier and recognizes Cassandra Brown, Brian Facey, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja, Julie Soloway and Micah Wood as leading lawyers.
Lexpert's Leading 500 Cross-Border Lawyers: A Guide to Doing Business in Canada (Competition Law) – Recognizes Brian Facey and Navin Joneja as leading lawyers.
The Best Lawyers in Canada (Competition/Antitrust Law) – Names Brian Facey as Lawyer of the Year (2024) and recognizes Jonathan Bitran, Cassandra Brown, Randall Hofley, Navin Joneja and Julie Soloway.
Benchmark Canada: The Definitive Guide to Canada's Leading Litigation Firms and Attorneys (Competition/Antitrust) – Recognizes Catherine Beagan-Flood, Jeff Galway, Randall Hofley, Claude Marseille, Dalton McGrath and James Sullivan for their expertise in competition litigation.
Global Competition Review’s Women in Antitrust – Ranks Julie Soloway as one of the world’s leading women lawyers in competition law.