From February 12-28, thousands of athletes from around the world will gather in Vancouver, Canada for the 21st Olympic Winter Games in the name of a concept dear to the antitrust community – competition. Their continuing pursuit of better performances will affirm what we know through our enforcement efforts: competition leads to the best results.

Our colleagues at the Canadian Competition Bureau took the opportunity to make the event a bit more ‘competitive’. The Bureau has an active outreach program that explains competition rules in Canada, including criminal conduct such as bid rigging. Representatives of the Bureau give presentations to private and public sector audiences – and did so for the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Their message was heard:

• “Part of preserving the legacy of the 2010 games is ensuring their financial viability. Through fair competition for contracts, not only does the successful bidder win, but so does the public. That’s why VANOC includes a ‘no collusion’ requirement in our Request for Proposals, requiring that proponents prepare their proposals independently from all other proponents. We may also request a Certificate of Independent Bid Determination to ensure full compliance.”
  –  Kenneth Bagshaw, Q.C., Chief Legal Officer, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)

If your agency is interested in learning more about Canada’s outreach efforts, please click here. If your agency has a similar outreach initiative we can highlight on the ICN Blog, please let us know.

To all the athletes competing in Vancouver – and competition agencies around the world – Citius, Altius, Fortius!

– Paul O’Brien