Corporate crime and the Canadian state: Anti-combines legislation, 1945–1986

This paper analyses post-war (1945–1986) anti-combines enforcement in Canada in the light of major competing theoretical models of the state in capitalist economies. Such an analysis serves as a framework for the clarification of issues pertaining to the debate on the state in advanced capitalism, the outcome of which may permit certain postulates concerning state-corporate relations in Canada. A narrative history of the nature and development of the Canadian economy informed by Canadian political economists will be presented, followed by a brief review of the history of anti-combines legislation and its enforcement up to 1945. Data will then be introduced enabling analysis in greater detail of post-war enforcement.