Honestly, if we needed ologopolies because of our population/geography, why are they so profitable? They should just be getting by.

Break up the ologopolies.

Remove unnecessary/ineffective regulation that has been hijacked to promote protectionism.

Make all infrastructure a publically owned utility. If services can be offered on that utility efficiently via the private sector (roads, rail, ICT "digital highways") then let any company use them at a rate that supports sufficient maintenance, repair, and I provements.

In general, ban rent seeking.

This isn't that hard. It's not happening because the political and bureaucractic classes have been captured by big corporations and we have no real choices.

Supporting oligopolies was an overt decision by the Canadian government in the 1970s or 1980s, since we expected them to build up here and then spread into markets abroad. That has kind of worked out for banks, but not for our other oligopolies.

I agree with the sentiment wholeheartedly.

If you are a subscriber to the Globe I’d honestly report the article. It’s based on skewed evidence and the author had questionable integrity to write it. Investors would almost certainly be better off with more competitive options.