Gasoline is up 22.8% year over year, and the Bank of Canada's next move matters for plan funding
The Competition Bureau says a consent agreement with fuel-data provider Kalibrate Canada Inc. should sharpen competition between gas stations and could help lower prices at the pump.
The agreement, announced Thursday, requires Kalibrate to stop sharing retailer-specific information that could reveal a competitor's sales or pricing practices, the bureau said in a news release. The company may share only aggregated market data, and only after a time delay.
The bureau concluded that Kalibrate Market Intelligence, also known as Kent Data, gave competitors access to confidential information such as the volume of fuel sold by individual retailers. It said that amounted to an abuse of Kalibrate's dominant position in supplying retail gasoline sales data.
"This can make it more likely for retailers to compete less aggressively, or to coordinate market behaviour, which can lead to higher prices at the pump," the bureau said, as reported by the Financial Post.
"The rising price of gas is a major concern for Canadians and even a small increase at the pump can have a significant impact on the daily costs we all pay," said Jeanne Pratt, interim commissioner of competition.
The agreement is registered with the Competition Tribunal and carries the force of a court order. According to a summary of the bureau's position statement, the data cannot cover periods shorter than one month or be released until 10 business days after the period ends. It also cannot include gasoline pricing information.
Company disputes concern
Kalibrate chief executive Charles Wetzel told the Financial Post the company has not abused its position to inflate prices. He said the order targets a product that helps station owners plan how much fuel to buy, not how to price it.
"We truthfully don't know what they had an issue with," he said.
Wetzel said the bureau also examined a separate Kalibrate pricing product but found it compliant. The bureau confirmed it has concluded its investigation on that front, the Financial Post reported.
The bureau cautioned that its findings have not been tested before a court or the tribunal, according to the position-statement summary. That summary said the statement neither quantifies consumer losses nor alleges price-fixing.
The Financial Post reported that three California drivers filed a proposed class action against Kalibrate in July, accusing it of using artificial intelligence to enable gas-station collusion.
The order ends an investigation that dates to 2024, when the bureau obtained a Federal Court order for Kalibrate's records. It is the first time the bureau has resolved a case by consent agreement under the abuse-of-dominance provisions restructured in the 2023 Competition Act amendments, the bureau said.
Why fuel prices matter to plan sponsors
Gasoline remains a key inflation driver. Statistics Canada reported prices rose 22.8% year over year in August, after a 25.7% gain in July, as the Middle East conflict continued. Headline inflation held at 3.0%. Excluding gasoline, it was 2.4%.
The Bank of Canada's overnight rate has been 2.25% since October 2025. MoneySense reported markets see the Oct. 28 decision as a close call. It said the bank's governing council worried that oil prices could stay high, and noted rising global bond yields.
Manulife strategist Dominique Lapointe expects hikes at the bank's next two meetings, Bloomberg reported. RBC's Claire Fan and Desjardins's Randall Bartlett still expect the bank to hold through 2026, according to a summary of comments they made to The Canadian Press.
Interest rates feed directly into pension funding. Mercer's Pension Health Pulse put the median solvency ratio of Canadian defined benefit plans at 128% at June 30, up five percentage points from the prior quarter. Some 89% of plans were fully funded or better. Mercer said a modest dip in interest rates raised liabilities and partly offset investment gains.
