Canada’s national parks are world-renowned for their natural beauty and majestic vistas, but now they’ve also become the site of something far less serene: a brewing fight over competition policy.
What happened: Canada's Competition Bureau has launched an inquiry into U.S.-based VIAD's growing control of tourist attractions in Banff and Jasper national parks.
- The probe follows the company's recent lease acquisition of the Jasper SkyTram, a deal that Parks Canada approved last month.
Why it’s happening: VIAD has established a dominant position in the region’s sightseeing market, controlling six of nine paid attractions in Banff and Jasper national parks, the local Brewster Express bus line, and 10 hotels in the parks.
- Rivals claim that gives VIAD control of more than 90% of the sightseeing market for the parks and the power to push competitors out of business through predatory pricing and ticket bundling.
Why it matters: The investigation is an early test of changes to Canada’s Competition Act made this summer that deem mergers resulting in one company gaining more than 30% market share presumptively anticompetitive.
Zoom out: If the Competition Bureau intervenes against VIAD, it could set a precedent for more aggressive enforcement of competition rules in other areas of the economy.—TS