Commissioner of Competition Bureau Matthew Boswell in Ottawa on Dec. 14, 2022.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail

Keldon Bester is the executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project (CAMP) and a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI). He has worked as a special adviser at the Competition Bureau.

Ahead of the holidays, the federal Liberals have made the most consequential improvements to Canada’s competition law since its introduction in 1986 and are on track to go further in early 2024.

As Canada’s competition law undergoes an important transition from stagnation to rejuvenation, it is welcome news that the government has reappointed Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell for an additional two years.

Though Canada’s commissioners do not have the same powers as their counterparts in the United States or Europe, the role is core to our competition policy framework. The commissioner alone decides which investigations move forward, and whether to settle with parties or go to the mat and take some of the world’s largest corporations to court.

The character of a commissioner can mean the difference between an assertive defence of competition and a free pass for harmful corporate........

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