Published by Do Not Pass Go with Peter Nowak
Your very own survival guide for our monopolized times. Do Not Pass Go is a weekly podcast and newsletter from veteran journalist Peter Nowak, reporting on and exposing corporate concentration and monopoly issues in Canada. www.donotpassgo.ca
Listen on Apple PodcastsWe’re safe from monopolies when we sleep, right? If only that were so. Over the past few years, a wave of consolidation has created sleep business juggernauts in both Canada and the United States. In 2012, manufacturers Tempur-Pedic and Sealy merged to become Somnigroup, before going on to acquire Mattress Firm – the largest U.S. sleep retailer – last year. Earlier this year, the Kentucky-based company announced a $2.5 billion (U.S.) acquisition of component maker Leggett & Platt, setting itself up to become a vertically integrated powerhouse with an estimated 40-per-cent share of the U.S. market. Meanwhile in Canada, Sleep Country has been on its own acquisition binge. Aside from gobbling up a host of online bed-in-a-box sellers including Casper Canada, Endy and Silk & Snow, the Toronto-based company last year acquired the rights to Bed, Bath & Beyond, with plans to relaunch the brand. And just recently, the company paid $702 million to acquire Minneapolis-based retailer Sleep Number, marking its expansion into the United States. Sleep Country says the deal makes it the world’s second-biggest sleep-oriented company after, you guessed it, Somnigroup. Nate Cangemi has more than 20 years experience in the sleep business and is the proprietor of Golden Dreams Mattress, an independent retailer based in Carslbad, Calif. He has been vocal of this growing consolidation on his social media channels, arguing that it is resulting in higher prices, homogenized choices for consumers and declining innovation. He joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast to discuss how concentration and vertical integration is literally preventing people from getting a better night’s sleep. Check out Golden Dreams Mattress here and on Instagram . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
The news for the news media isn’t great. A steady stream of surveys are finding that public trust in news outlets is on the decline. A recent report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, for example, found that only 37 per cent of Canadians trust the news overall, which was down from 55 per cent a decade ago. Many of the news media’s problems are self-inflicted, but some of them are also the product of forces we talk a lot about here – corporatization, consolidation and, yes, enshittification. It’s just another industry that has problems stemming from giant companies extracting profits at the expense of everything else. Tara Henley is a journalist who went viral in 2022 after she left CBC and criticized the institution for how far it had strayed from objectivity. She has spent the past few years focusing on these issues through her Substack, Lean Out. Now, she has focused all of that research and commentary into a new book, The Trust Spiral: Why the Media Needs Objectivity , which covers both the internal and external failures that are showing up as these concerning survey statistics. Her book is a sober diagnosis of what has gone wrong, as well as a plain prescription for how the news media can restore the public’s faith in it. She joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast to talk about the trust spiral and how to reverse it. Check out Tara’s Substack here and her new book here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
The World Cup is over and we have a winner: after an exciting and drama-filled tournament, Spain has been crowned the ultimate champion. But there’s also a loser – and that is clearly StubHub. The biggest name in ticket resale had issues before the World Cup, but the company is emerging from the event beset by problems of its own making. Texas and British Columbia are investigating StubHub for selling tickets that didn’t exist, consumers have filed class-action lawsuits in New York and Vancouver over the same reasons, and Ontario has added the company to its Consumer Beware List. Perhaps the most serious problem is the revelation that StubHub chief executive Eric Baker also runs a mass scalping side hustle through the website. Many of the stories over the past few months, including the Baker bombshell, were turned up by CBC News investigative reporter Dave Seglins. His interest in the mess that is the ticketing business goes back nearly a decade further to a hidden camera investigation of a scalper convention in Las Vegas, where he and his colleagues caught Ticketmaster representatives not only encouraging mass resellers to use their platform, but recruiting them to do so. That story figured into the recent U.S. antitrust case against Ticketmaster and its parent Live Nation, just as Seglins’ latest coverage has sparked the various government probes and lawsuits against StubHub. No other journalist in Canada has covered this field as closely or with as much impact. In this episode, Seglins joins Do Not Pass Go to take us behind the scenes of the ticketing business, and to discuss why concerts and sporting events are deserving of serious attention from policy makers. Check out the story on Eric Baker here , and the 2018 scalper convention investigation here . And here is the interview with Live Nation executive Dan Wall referred to in this episode. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
If you’ve got a pet in your household - and half of all Canadian households have at least one - this podcast episode is for you. We’re talking about how consolidation in the veterinary industry is rapidly driving up prices, and what’s being done about it. A CBC investigation last year found that before 2010, almost all veterinary clinics in Canada were owned by the vets themselves. Fast forward to the present and more than half of emergency and specialty hospitals and more than 20 per cent of all clinics are owned by just six corporations. As is the case with virtually every industry where consolidation is occurring, prices are going up – and dramatically so in this case. A survey of pet owners last year by Gallup and PetSmart Charities of Canada found that more than half of respondents had declined recommended veterinary care or skipped a visit, with two-thirds citing cost as the reason. Having to pay sky-high fees to get pets healthy, or worse, not being able to afford the cost of doing so, is often devastating to families. The rolling up of the industry is getting a lot of attention as a result and it’s inevitable that regulators and governments are going to start investigating. Maybe some will take action. But in the meantime, some of those still independent vets are trying to disrupt this norm. Emma Harris is the chief executive and, along with Dr. Brendon Laing, the co-founder of Novel, a new vet clinic that opened last year in Burlington, Ont. As the name implies, they’re trying to do the vet business a bit differently, driven largely by the desire to make sure that pet care is affordable so that families don’t have to make that terrible decision of foregoing treatment with their fur babies. Harris is also finishing up her PhD at the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, where her thesis delves into the growing overlap of vet care and big business. She’s the perfect person to talk about how private equity is driving up the cost of pet care but also investing in necessary advancements, and how disruption and better clinics may be the best counter to industry consolidation. Check out Novel here and a Globe and Mail feature on the clinic here . CORRECTION : A previous version of the show notes for this episode referred to Dr. Laing as Ms. Harris’ husband. They are not, in fact, married. We regret the error. An audio clarification will be made in the next episode. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
In December last year, Ubisoft Halifax employees voted overwhelmingly in favour of establishing a union – 74 per cent said yes. Just a few weeks later, the French company shut the studio down and laid off everyone. Legal action followed, which the two sides settled in April, only for Ubisoft to then close its Winnipeg studio in June, laying off a further 65 employees. Those layoffs – more than 45,000 globally since 2022, with 8,200 so far this year including Microsoft’s news this week of an additional 3,200 Xbox cuts – are what’s driving the unionization push, not just at Ubisoft but across the industry. Employees at U.S. studios owned by Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax Media and Sega of America have all unionized recently. Last year, workers in the United States and Canada partnered with the Communications Workers of America to announce the United Videogame Workers-CWA Local 9433, marking the historic launch of an industry-wide labour movement. In this episode, Ubisoft Halifax lead programmer and union leader Jon Huffman takes us behind the scenes of the studio’s move to get organized, and he explains how consolidation and financialization are forcing workers across the industry to finally fight back. Check out Huffman’s new independent games studio, Phantom Rowboat . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
The NDP took a drubbing in the last federal election, suffering its worst defeat in history. The party lost 17 seats, with its share of the popular vote falling by two-thirds to just 6.3 per cent. Some of that was because many Canadians got spooked by Donald Trump’s 51st state rhetoric, so they rallied behind the Liberal party to prevent a Conservative win. But part of it was also because, as many within the NDP openly admitted, the party had lost its way - it was no longer representing the interests of regular Canadians. At the same time, in Manitoba, premier Wab Kinew has been enjoying some pretty significant support. He’s regularly showing up as the most popular premier in the country in polls, an obvious beacon of success for the NDP in Canada. That popularity is the result of his tackling the issue that is top of mind for the vast majority Canadians: affordability. Since taking office in 2023, Kinew’s government has passed a raft of pro-consumer and anti-monopoly legislation. From taking on grocery chains and the restrictive land contracts that prevent competition, to banning surveillance pricing and giving farmers the ability to repair their own tractors, the province been on a mission to counter the effects of market concentration. The federal party and Kinew’s counterparts in the other provinces have not only taken notice, but they’re adopting the same playbook. This past spring in Winnipeg, Avi Lewis won the federal NDP leadership and has since adopted many of the same positions on a national level. He’s in favour of municipally run grocery stores, a total ban on surveillance pricing, and publicly owned telecom providers, among other measures. In Ontario, Stiles is pushing a similar agenda. Her party has introduced bills on right to repair, cutting taxes on groceries and the establishment of programs to cut energy bills. She joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast for a wide-ranging discussion on how the NDP is tying a hoped-for rebound to a focus on competition and affordability issues. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Want to cancel your phone or internet service? Better carve out a serious chunk of time for calling in to plead and argue with a customer agent. The irony is that same service might have taken only seconds to sign up for online in the first place. And it’s not just telecom, it’s widespread. Satellite radio, gym memberships, newspaper subscriptions – there are no shortages of businesses in Canada that purposely make it delightfully easy for customers to come on board, but dreadfully difficult to leave. As usual, Canada is lagging while other countries are moving to protect consumers from such predatory tactics. Fortunately, there’s a bright spot on the horizon, as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission recently announced new regulations that will force telecom providers to make it easy for customers to change or cancel their services online without having to call in to speak with an agent. These so-called “click-to-cancel” rules are the first federal effort to address the scourge of consumer lock-in, but they aren’t coming into effect until April 2027 and they only apply to telecom companies. Tahira Dawood, acting director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre consumer rights group, joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast to discuss why Canada is so behind and why click-to-cancel rules are broadly needed throughout the economy. Check out the Competition Bureau’s recent paper on dark patterns here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Surveillance pricing is firmly in the public crosshairs, with the federal government this week introducing legislation to govern the controversial practice. Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, promises to ensure that Canadians’ “personal information is used responsibly, transparently and for appropriate purposes, including to address unfair uses of personal information such as inappropriate surveillance pricing.” With more than 80 per cent of Canadians wanting a ban or strict regulations on surveillance pricing – where prices for goods and services are individualized based on the data that sellers have about buyers – the government’s move is timely and follows similar action in Manitoba. But unlike the province’s ban, which was passed in April, critics are already warning that the proposed federal rules don’t go far enough and lack specifics. The legislation appears to leave room for market segmentation and the preservation of merchants’ ability to offer discounts, which, as we’ll hear in this podcast episode, are hallmarks of a possible slippery slope. Alec Opperman is a producer and strategist with More Perfect Union, an Emmy-award winning non-profit journalism project in the U.S. He recently produced a video on how surveillance pricing laws are getting watered down and neutered by lobbyists in the United States. He joins Do Not Pass Go to discuss these cautionary tales, and to highlight the warning signs of supposed bans that are anything but. Check out More Perfect Union’s video here . The Chamber of Progress, mentioned in this episode, has critiques of surveillance pricing laws – such as those Maryland tried to enact – on its website . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
One question we often ask in these parts is what can the average person do about monopolies and oligopolies? The answers vary depending on the situation, ranging from boycotts of products and services to shareholder activism and even political action. But with so many Canadians struggling just to make ends meet – when many are working multiple jobs and have precious little time or energy to devote to anything other than the basic necessities of life – the better question might be: Who can do something about monopolies and oligopolies? It’s known as “demographic availability,” or the privilege of protest – where only a certain well-resourced group of people are able to take action, whatever form it takes. It’s an ironic situation because it means that those who are most affected by economic concentration are often the least able to resist it directly, which gives rise to the question: Does that put more of the onus to do so on those with more resources and discretionary time? Stephen Gasteyer is an associate professor of sociology at Michigan State University who has written about activism and demographic availability. He joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast to discuss the privilege of protest, the different forms of economic resistance and whether society’s more resourced members have a heightened responsibility to engage in it. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Many of us see supposed discounts every day – products in flyers or on websites where the “regular” price is crossed out and replaced by a supposed sale price: a vacuum that is normally $599 is now $499, or a pair of pants that usually sells for $99, now only $49! Sometimes the deals are legitimate, but often they’re fake discounts meant to mislead consumers into thinking they’re getting a bargain. These fake discounts aren’t just marketing gimmicks, they’re illegal – running afoul of Canada’s “ordinary selling price” laws, which require listed regular prices to be legitimate. Products must genuinely be sold at the regular price for either a certain length of time or a specified volume of overall sales. The laws are meant to protect consumers from deceptive advertising and to keep merchants honest, but they’re routinely violated because the practice works. Psychological studies show that the promise of a bargain, real or not, makes people more likely to buy what’s being offered. The practice is already difficult enough for enforcers to detect and stop, so what happens when algorithms and artificial intelligence are added to the equation? What constitutes an “ordinary selling price” and a discount when dynamic pricing means costs for products and services can change every few seconds? These are questions raised in a new paper by Matthew Chiasson, a senior policy advisor for the Competition Bureau, who believes it’s the first attempt to address the issue in an academic context. Chiasson previously appeared on the Do Not Pass Go podcast to discuss how large companies were weaponizing regulations to stifle competition. He joins us again to talk about what’s a real discount in a world where the price of everything is increasingly fluid. Check out his paper here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Payouts in the class-action lawsuit against Loblaw for its role in the Great Canadian Bread Price-Fixing Scandal are now going out, which is great news… but also not. The $49.11 deposits, being paid out to those who registered for the lawsuit, are a drop in the bucket compared to what the scandal has cumulatively cost Canadian households – and a reminder of the big competitive problems plaguing the industry. For 15 years, Loblaw and its fellow large grocers – including Metro, Sobeys, Walmart and Giant Tiger – conspired to raise the price of bread. While Loblaw is finally paying something for its role in the cartel, the public is in the dark as to what – if anything – is happening with the other participants. Worse still, what little is known about the scandal suggests that price-fixing on other products may be happening and the chains themselves haven’t changed their behaviour, if the string of continuing controversies is anything to go by. Keldon Bester, executive director of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, says strong action is needed by all levels of government to shed more light on the various ways in which the nation’s large grocers are colluding and preventing competition in the sector. He joins Do Not Pass Go this week to discuss why the current payouts are good news for consumers, but also to explain why Canada’s approach to fixing the industry’s structural problems isn’t even half-baked. Check out the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Canada has some of the most expensive elevators in the world — and as a result, we have far fewer of them per capita than most countries in the world. It’s a symptom of a much larger problem involving regulation, competition, housing affordability and Canada’s relationship with the United States. The two countries have effectively isolated themselves from the global elevator market by maintaining their own unique technical standards. While most of the world follows European regulations, North America requires different testing, sizing and certification rules that make it harder for international competitors to enter the market. The result is a highly concentrated industry dominated by four big multinational firms, where elevators cost far more to install, maintain and modernize than they do in Europe or Asia. As Canada becomes more urbanized and relies increasingly on condos and apartment buildings, these added construction costs are rippling through the housing market. Worse still, two members of the Big Four – Finland’s Kone and Germany’s TK Elevator – are now set to merge in a $34 billion (U.S.) deal that will create the largest manufacturer in the world and tighten the oligopoly even further. Stephen Smith is the executive director of the Center for Building North America, a research group that studies elevator markets around the world. He joins Do Not Pass Go to discuss how Canada needs to detach itself from U.S. standards and move closer to Europe in order to address the housing crisis and open its market to players outside of the oligopoly. Smith’s Globe and Mail piece, referenced in this episode, is here , while his recent report on the global elevator market is here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Industry concentration, supply problems and the war in Iran are all contributing to ever-escalating grocery prices for Canadians, but there’s also a serious anti-competitive issue behind them: restrictive real-estate covenants. These secretive real-estate deals, signed by Loblaws, Sobeys and others when they open stores, are keeping competitors away and funnelling consumers toward existing stores. They’re prevalent across Canada and, in some cases, their terms are egregious – would you believe that Loblaw’s typically blocks billiard halls from malls? Once used to prevent specific minorities from living in certain areas, grocery chains have discovered and deployed these restrictive covenants to great effect, which why is the Competition Bureau is now investigating them and Manitoba has banned them. Jacob Filipp, a marketing professional in Toronto, began unearthing and tracking these contracts after discovering how they drive up grocery prices. He maintains a definitive and growing database on his website as something of a hobby and a public service. He joins Do Not Pass Go this week to explain restrictive covenants and how grocery chains are using them to drive up prices for Canadians. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Fun fact: Canada once led the world in fighting monopolies. With the Anti-Combines Act of 1889, we became the first country in the world to enact pro-competition laws, designed to bust monopolies and protect consumers. But, as the saying goes, being first doesn’t always mean being best. The Competition Act, which took effect on June 19, 1986, was an attempt to fix the problems with its predecessor. It’s been revised several times since. As the Act turns 40, we’re joined by its chief architect, Lawson Hunter, to assess how it has evolved and performed, and where Canada’s competition policy and enforcement should head next. Hunter’s career is long and distinguished. A former competition commissioner and assistant deputy industry minister, he is the recipient of the Chambers Canada Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a member of the bar and a member of the Order of Canada. He’s the former chief corporate officer for Bell Canada and, as a long-time counsel at Stikeman Elliott, has advised many of Canada’s biggest companies on mergers and acquisitions. On this week’s Do Not Pass Go podcast, we discuss the up-and-down enforcement of the Act, who should be the next Competition Commissioner, and how Canada has been “infected” by all these antitrust hipsters. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Most musicians in North America are afraid to say anything negative about Live Nation/Ticketmaster for fear of retaliation, but not Rollie Pemberton. The Edmonton-born rapper, better known as Cadence Weapon, doesn’t just speak out – he takes action. In 2022, Pemberton started My Merch, a movement against the entertainment giant demanding a cut of artists’ merchandise sales in venues it owned. That effort led to more than a hundred venues signing on and a wave of public awareness around the issue. Now, on his just released new album Forager , the former Edmonton poet laureate uses his love of vintage clothing and thrifting as a bridge to connect with his immediate surroundings and to return to a less ephemeral existence that isn’t so controlled by big corporations. He goes further in his upcoming book, Ways of Listening , in which he explores how to really connect with music – without relying on algorithms. He joins Do Not Pass Go this week to talk about the ongoing Live Nation monopoly cases in both the U.S. and Canada, the future of Spotify and streaming, and how the fakeness of artificial intelligence is going to make people treasure real music again. Check out Forager here . His upcoming book, Ways of Listening , is out May 26 and can be found here . And of course, check out his regular musings on Substack. We also mention The Artist Economy , a Substack by Joel Gouveia, which can be found here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
It wasn’t the result he was hoping for, but Alexander Martin’s defeat in Canada’s competition court was historic nevertheless. Now, he’s ready to talk about it. Last year, the Toronto-based independent game developer – known online as “Droqen” – jumped on a new law that lets regular citizens and civil society groups challenge monopolies. His target was Google’s deal with Apple, where its search engine is the default on the iPhone maker’s devices in exchange for billions of dollars. This arrangement, Martin argued, is harmful to Canadian businesses and internet users because it forces them to use an opaque system that Google can – and does – change at any time. The Competition Tribunal in January refused to let his complaint go ahead, citing doubt that Martin and his law firm, Berger Montague, could mount a compelling case. But the effort was historic because it established the rules that other Canadian monopoly cases against Live Nation and Apple are now following. Martin joins the Do Not Pass Go podcast this week to talk about the experience, how the new law is intended to allow regular people like him to fight monopolies, and how the judge in his case may not have got that memo. Link is in the first reply below. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Airlines, banks, telcos, grocery chains. The economy is three companies in a trench coat. Welcome to The Antidote. Do Not Pass Go, your very own survival guide to our monopolized times. Join me, Peter Nowak, every week as we delve into competition issues, oligopolies, their influence over our lawmakers, affordability, and what it means for you. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
This week we’re celebrating a pair of milestones here at Do Not Pass Go : We’ve officially hit both the six-month and the 1,000-subscriber marks! Our quick growth tells us there’s a big appetite for what we’re doing here, which is reporting on and elevating the profile of competition, affordability and consumer issues in Canada. That’s great news, because we’re just getting started – there’s so much more to come. Join us on this very special episode of the podcast for a look back at some of the highlights and stats from the past six months, plus a look forward at what’s next. Plus, in between, we’re joined by Vass Bednar, director of the Canadian SHIELD Institute sovereignty think tank, and Arshy Mann, host of The Hatchet podcast and Substack, for a report card on how the “hawkish” Carney government is doing so far on competition issues. Along with Denise Hearn, Vass is the co-author of the 2024 book The Big Fix , while Arshy in 2022/2023 produced Canadaland’s monopoly podcast series , both of which were the inspiration for Do Not Pass Go . What better way to celebrate our milestones than a conversation with grandma and grandpa! Check out the Canadian SHIELD Institute here and The Hatchet here . Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe
Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a small business or a large enterprise, having an online presence is a necessity. And while businesses have always had to deal with unfavourable changes to online platforms, these issues are multiplying now that concentration has set in and competition between them has levelled off. Stories of businesses losing access to their social media accounts are increasingly popping up. Entire industries have pivoted because of changes to algorithms, only for platform owners to switch them up again on a whim. Some have ceased to exist entirely while others have changed hands and ushered in completely new sets of rules. On top of it all, most of the platforms in question are U.S.-based – a big problem when Canada is pushing toward more sovereignty. In other words, it’s never been a worse time to hitch your online wagon to someone else’s train. Spencer Callaghan is the brand and communications director for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, the non-profit organization that sells the dot-ca domain name. He’s self-admittedly biased because of who he works for, but he’s not wrong in advocating for businesses of all sizes to control their own online fate. He joins Do Not Pass Go this week to warn of the dangers of businesses putting too much effort into opaquely run platforms, and to share his advice on how they can own rather than rent their respective online presences. Do Not Pass Go is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to Do Not Pass Go at www.donotpassgo.ca/subscribe