John Pecman is a Senior Business Advisor in the Competition, Marketing & Foreign Investment group. With over 34 years of experience enforcing Canada’s Competition Act, John served from June 2013 as the Commissioner of Competition of the Competition Bureau Canada for a five-year term.
Under John’s leadership, the Bureau’s enforcement actions preserved competition and drove innovation in a variety of major areas of the Canadian economy, including the automotive, manufacturing, e-commerce, telecommunications and retail sectors. John was responsible for reinvigorating the Bureau's role in advocating for Canadians by promoting the benefits of increased competition in regulated sectors of the economy. John’s philosophy of a more open, transparent and collaborative Bureau led to many initiatives including a realignment of the organization, prioritization of corporate compliance programs and building many trust relationships with domestic and international partners. John held executive positions with the OECD Competition Committee and the International Competition Network (ICN) and also served as ICN/OECD Liaison to ensure coordination of work by these international bodies. Presently John is a Non-Government Advisor (NGA) to the ICN as well as the TMX Industry Professor at DeGroote Business School at McMaster University.
John is an economist with an M.A. from McMaster University and worked at the Competition Bureau as an investigator, manager and executive for more than 34 years. He worked in every enforcement branch at the Bureau and held increasingly senior positions since first joining the organisation in 1984.
Before his appointment as Commissioner, John held the position of Interim Commissioner, beginning in September 2012. Prior he held the position of Senior Deputy Commissioner of the Criminal Matters branch, where he directed significant criminal investigations, including retail gasoline cartel investigations in Ontario and Quebec, that resulted in multiple charges, guilty pleas, fines and jail sentences. As Senior Deputy Commissioner he served as the co-chair of the enforcement techniques subgroup of the ICN’s Cartel Working Group.
