Merger reforms bring longer review times, greater scrutiny, analysis of Competition Bureau data says

By Anosha Khan ( August 10, 2026, 4:13 PM EDT) -- Two years after the Competition Act was amended to revise Canada’s merger review framework, new trends have emerged with significant implications for businesses: proposed transactions are increasingly being labelled as “complex,” facing longer wait times and receiving more scrutiny overall, according to an analysis of Competition Bureau data by Anita Banicevic, a partner at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP....