by Davit Akman | Sofi Katsovskaia | Larry Weinberg

The Canadian government recently enacted amendments to the Competition Act intended to prohibit agreements between and amongst unaffiliated employers to fix wages or terms or conditions of employment or not to solicit or hire each other’s employees. The amendments come into force on June 23, 2023, as subsection 45(1.1) of the criminal conspiracy provision in section 45 of the Act. Once this occurs, any new Wage-Fixing and No-Poach Agreements will expose the parties to those agreements to significant criminal penalties.

On January 18, 2023, the Competition Bureau, the law enforcement agency that administers and enforces the Act, released draft guidelines for public consultation describing its intended approach to enforcing the new criminal prohibitions. Interested parties have until March 3, 2023, to submit comments and feedback to the Bureau regarding the Draft Guidelines.

Click here to read the full release from Cassels.