this post was submitted on 21 May 2024
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Corporations are buying local vet clinics β€” raising questions about price, choice and quality of care (www.cbc.ca)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
18 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The big companies, known as consolidators, have bought hundreds of clinics from 2012 onwards, according to records and reports, across the country, because pets and vets are big money.

Sixty per cent of Canadians have a pet, according to a recent report from Mintel, a consumer research firm, and the country's vet practices pull in around $9.3 billion a year according to a 2023 report prepared for the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association.

A 2023 report from the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association (OMVA) said corporate interests contol 20 per cent of veterinary hospitals in Canada, and estimates those chains employ about 40 per cent of the nation's vets.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 6 months ago (4 children)

I swear, how did we get to this point, where we have massive (effectively) monopolies that are able to continue to merge and buy up smaller companies and grow?

I know we have anti-trust laws, but if companies are able to keep doing this, we need a review of those laws.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Because that's how capitalism works without strong enough regulations. You need to grow every year, and at a certain point you can't really do that without expanding into a new market or buying a competitor.

In exaggerated capitalism, one company grows until it owns everything. Its goal is to extract as much as possible from the population.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Never one company.

Usually three companies will end up owning an imdustry. It's far easier to manage a collusive oligopoly than a pure monopoly; and the governments are more likely to leave you alone.

[–] Murdoc 2 points 6 months ago

No such thing as strong enough regulations. They'll alway find a way as long as there is motivation to do so.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Because that's how capitalism works. The goal is to make as much money as possible as fast as possible, which is harder to do when you have competition.

The myth of the "free market" is a way to distract people from the reality of a capital based system. The haves all want to be have-mores, and they will take from the needs to accomplish it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Free market might work if politicians couldnoy accept any "donations" to adjust laws in favour of giant corps.

[–] Murdoc 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Nope. All you'd be doing is slowing down the damage in the short term while breeding more clever and less moral actors. The only way to get rid of that behaviour is to change the rules of the game.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

The only way to get rid of that behaviour is to change the rules of the game.

All of this. Never, ever play someone else's game by their rules. Either change the game or change the rules. It's the only way to beat them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

It's getting really cyberpunk all in here lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I doubt the laws were ever even intended to prevent this.