Matthew Boswell

But in the era of businessmen politicians where everything is a deal, we're not supposed to ask questions like, "What's good for consumers?" So when Peter Nowak, Canada's pre-eminent competition watcher, called me up, I knew exactly what was on his mind.

If our governing monopoly says it's open season for big business in Canada, where exactly does that leave the rest of us? Because right now there are huge competition issues playing out across Canada, and since Matthew Boswell, the former head of the Competition Commissioner, stepped down last December, the Competition Bureau doesn't even have a full-time boss.

So Peter and I wanted to dig into all of that and do a little cross-country check-in on the state of competition.

It's also the one-year anniversary of Peter's fantastic publication, Do Not Pass Go, which covers all things competition in Canada.

Uh, they got an agreement from Calibrate to stop doing that, so quite the, the big week for the, for the enforcement agency.

Now, on the flip side, though, they still don't have a full-time boss.

The competition commissioner, Matthew Boswell, who was in charge for seven years, um, he has his whole share of, of fanboys and fangirls amongst the anti-monopoly crowd.

They...

And there was the episode where film journalist Eric Veillette explained the long history of monopolies in Canada's theater business.

We've had some amazing A-list guests too, from Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell on the very first episode to President Joe Biden advisor and proud Canadian and Blue Jays fan Tim Wu to former Conservative Party leader Erin O'Toole, who sang some Gordon Lightfoot for us, to former BlackBerry CEO Jim Balsillie.

And of course, I have to mention author and activist Cory Doctorow, who's been on twice and who never fails to make me think or laugh.

So all of this adds to some stats that kind of blow my mind.

Um, so quite, quite the, the, the big week for the, for the enforcement agency.

Now, on the flip side, though, um, they still don't have a full-time boss.

The Competition Commissioner, Matthew Boswell, who was in charge for seven years, um, he has his whole share of, of fanboys and fangirls amongst the anti-monopoly crowd.

They...