12.2 Economic Regulation to

Promote Efficiency

Monopolies, cartels, and price-fixing agreements among oligopolists,
whether explicit or tacit, have met with public suspicion and official
hostility for more than a century. These and other non-competitive
practices are collectively referred to as monopoly practices. The laws and
other instruments that are used to encourage competitive behaviour and
discourage monopoly practices make up competition policy (referred to as
anit-trust policy in the United States). Canadian competition policy has
sought to create more competitive market structures where possible, to
discourage monopolistic practices, and to encourage competitive
behaviour where competitive market structures cannot be established.

Federal, provincial, and local governments also employ economic
regulations, which prescribe the rules under which firms can do business
and in some cases determine the prices that businesses can charge for
their output. For example, the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is a federal agency that
regulates many aspects of the radio, television, and telecommunications
industries, including the price you pay for cellphone and Internet
services. Another federal agency is the Office of the Superintendent of
Financial Institutions (OSFI), which oversees the regulation of Canada’s
banks and insurance companies. Provincial governments regulate the