Sheridan Scott Biography

The Commissioner

Sheridan Scott is Canada's Commissioner of Competition, the head of the Competition Bureau.

The Commissioner is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the Competition Act and three labelling statutes, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Precious Metals Marking Act and the Textile Labelling Act.

Under the Competition Act, the Commissioner can launch inquiries, intervene as a competition advocate before federal and provincial bodies, challenge civil and merger matters before the Competition Tribunal and make recommendations on criminal matters to the Attorney General of Canada.

Before joining the Competition Bureau in January 2004, Ms. Scott was Chief Regulatory Officer of Bell Canada. She was responsible for overseeing all activities involving the CRTC, the Copyright Board and the Competition Bureau on behalf of Bell Canada, Bell Mobility and Bell ExpressVu. Ms. Scott previously served as Vice President - Office of the President and Vice President, Multimedia Law & Regulation at Bell Canada.

From 1992 to 1994, Ms. Scott worked as Assistant Vice-President, Planning and Corporate Development and Vice-President of Planning and Regulatory Affairs at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She was responsible for affiliate relations, regulatory matters, resource planning and audience research.

From 1983 to 1992, she worked as Legal Counsel and Senior Legal Counsel at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, where she was involved in major hearings on long distance competition, the regulation of cable rates and the renewal of pay and specialty licences. She was a part-time law professor at the University of Ottawa in 1990/1991 and at Carleton University in 1991/1992.

Ms. Scott is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. She obtained a law degree from the University of Victoria in 1981, after which she served as Law Clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada, the Right Honourable Bora Laskin.

Ms. Scott has been actively involved in a number of professional and community organizations such as Canadian Women in Communications, Maestro's Circle of Opera Lyra Ottawa, Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund, Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and the Leadership Giving Committee of the United Way.

Ms. Scott was named one of Canada's 100 Most Powerful Women in the Trailblazer category in 2005 by the Women's Executive Network (WXN). She also received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005 from the University of Victoria, where an entrance scholarship has been established in her name.