The presentation, made public during the hearing on Rogers Communications’ proposed acquisition of Shaw Communications for 26 billion, cited the “danger” of Videotron and Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau as a recourse partner.

It was also revealed that Telus aimed to sway the federal government’s and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s views of the agreement through this so-called Project Fox.

Additionally, according to the presentation, part of the Fox project’s endorsement also appeared to include announcing a deal with Globalive to boost that company’s bid to acquire Freedom. In May, Globalive announced that it had signed a network and spectrum sharing agreement with Telus.

Quebecor agreed to buy Freedom in a $2.85 billion deal earlier this year.

The sale of Freedom Mobile to Videotron would result in Quebecor acquiring all of Freedom’s wireless and internet customers, infrastructure, spectrum and outlets, expanding Quebecor’s wireless operations nationwide.

Public interest

The judge leading the public hearing on Rogers Communications’ proposed $26 billion acquisition of Shaw Communications says too much of the deal is happening behind closed doors.

Earlier in the second week of the hearing, the chairman of the Competition Court Committee, Chief Justice Paul Crampton, indicated that the confidential framework had been “overexploited”.

Judge Crampton says he will be more vigilant in deciding what confidential evidence will be presented during the trial and has asked the attorneys involved to make greater efforts to reduce it.

However, he warns that some testimonies contain competitive information and that it is important to ensure that this is not made public as this “could be detrimental to competition”.

The hearing aims to resolve the impasse between the Competition Commissioner and Rogers and Shaw.

The Competition Bureau is one of three regulators, along with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and Innovation, Science and Canada Economic Development, that must approve the deal before it can go ahead.

The hearing is expected to last four weeks, with oral hearings scheduled for mid-December.

Rogers hopes to close the deal with Shaw by the end of the year, with a possible further extension to January 31, 2023.