Rogers’ planned buyout of Shaw Communications Inc. for $26 billion will have a disproportionate impact on low-income Canadians by harming competitiveness in the telecom industry, says a lawyer from the federal Competition Bureau.
“We saw the impact on all consumers generally. We were concerned about all of those consumers,” said Jeanne Pratt, senior deputy commissioner of the Bureau’s Mergers and Monopolistic Practices Branch, while testifying before the House of Commons industry committee on Jan. 25.
“We did look at the impact that was going to be on the bottom decile of taxpayers as a result of this merger,” she said, adding, “It indicated that there would be a disproportionate impact on lower-income Canadians.”…