WebProNews

The brakes haven't been put on the advertising deal between Google and Yahoo, but the companies aren't having an easy time of things, either.  Like certain onlookers and the U.S. Department of Justice, the Canadian Competition Bureau has decided to review their proposal.

The partnership will, after all, affect the ads shown on Yahoo's Canadian properties.  The same four-year term (with room for two three-year renewals) will apply in Canada, too.  Anthony Durocher, a senior competition law officer with the Competition Bureau, explained to Bloomberg, "It's a sizeable agreement and we're going to take a close, hard look at it."

 

A complicating factor: Microsoft and all its resources might play some role in encouraging an extra-close, extra-hard examination.  As in the U.S., the Redmond-based corporation's share of Canada's search market doesn't even compare to what Google controls.

Google and Yahoo don't seem too worried, though, with neither company bothering to put out any press releases or blog posts concerning the Competition Bureau's investigation.

A spokesperson for the Competition Bureau even told Matt Hartley something about being "mindful of the parties' time frame," so any sort of full stop seems like a remote possibility.