The Canadian Competition Authority closes its investigation into an alleged conspiracy by large media companies (Postmedia / Torstar)

Introduction Canada’s Competition Bureau (‘the Bureau’), which assists the Commissioner of Competition (‘the Commissioner’) in the administration and enforcement of the Competition Act (‘the Act’), [1] announced on 7 January 2021 that the Commissioner closed the investigation into Postmedia Network Canada Corp (‘Postmedia’) and Torstar Corporation (‘Torstar’) for allegations the two companies reached an agreement contrary to the conspiracy provisions of the Act. [2] The Commissioner had opened an investigation in November 2017, shortly after Postmedia, Torstar and its subsidiary Metroland Media Group announced a deal that involved the transfer of 41 community and daily newspapers, and the subsequent closure of 36 of them. Most of these papers were based in the province of Ontario and