The Redemption of S. 76: Finding Meaning for Resale Price Maintenance in the Service Context after Visa-Mastercard

Abstract

This Article argues that the result in The Commissioner of Competition v. Visa Canada Corporation and MasterCard International Incorporated revealed a gap in the Competition Act’s price maintenance provision with respect to the meaning of a service and that of the resale of a service. It summarizes the history of price maintenance in Canada, reviews the economic logic that motivates Canadian competition policy towards resale price maintenance in the goods context, develops a working interpretation for services and the resale of services, and demonstrates that that interpretation is compatible with the policy concerns behind section 76.