James Maunder, the senior Amazon Canada executive who threatened to shut one of the tech giant’s e-commerce platforms in the country if Ottawa moves ahead with stricter competition laws, has left the company.

The move comes weeks after The Logic obtained a recording of Maunder making the comments at a private meeting in 2021. 

In a LinkedIn post Wednesday, Maunder said he made the “difficult” decision to leave the company.

“I’m so proud of what we accomplished together and what the team delivered for our sellers and customers across Canada,” he wrote. “Which is why my decision to leave Amazon was so difficult, especially now. But, I am leaving with a huge sense of accomplishment and excitement about the future—for me and for the team.”

As Amazon Canada’s director of public policy, Maunder had led the company’s lobbying efforts in the country for two-and-a-half years. 

The Logic learned of his exit earlier this week and asked the company for confirmation and comment.

Maunder made the news public on LinkedIn before The Logic received a reply. Amazon spokesperson Kristin Gable initially declined to comment on whether Maunder’s departure was connected to The Logic’s earlier reporting. After this story was first published, Gable said it was “unrelated.”

“We appreciate all James has done in his time with us, and wish him well in his next step,” Gable said in a statement. 

Maunder declined to offer further context around his departure. 

“I’ve loved my time at Amazon but am looking forward to my new opportunity in the new year,” he told The Logic via LinkedIn direct message. 

Amazon Marketplace is an e-commerce platform that runs adjacent to the company’s traditional online services where third parties can sell new and used products. Launched in 2003, the Canadian version of the platform currently supports around 40,000 sellers. 

In the recording obtained by The Logic, Maunder said Amazon would shut down Marketplace if the federal government adopts “U.S.-style” changes to the Competition Act, which Ottawa has said it will update in an effort to rein in the powers of tech giants like Amazon and Google. Those plans come amid growing concerns that Big Tech has achieved unrivaled dominance in the market, and that its data collection capabilities have effectively given companies manipulative powers. 

“If Canada were to adopt U.S.-style antitrust legislation—the six bills currently in Congress—we’ve said it in the U.S., we’d have to shut down Marketplace. You would see similar action in Canada in response to similar policy measures,” he said in the recording. 

His comments provided insight into Amazon’s behind-the-scenes pushback against Canada’s potential antitrust law changes. Meanwhile, major tech companies including Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet and Amazon have spent US$95 million lobbying against American lawmakers’ efforts to reduce their sway, and have donated millions to federal political campaigns. 

In the recording, Maunder said he had worked with U.S. law professor Daniel Sokol and former Competition Bureau Canada commissioner John Pecman to resist Ottawa’s potential antitrust reform. 

Pecman has written several opinion pieces critical of altering current competition law, while Sokol has warned against over-regulating Big Tech in papers and articles for think-tanks C.D. Howe Institute and Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI). Amazon Canada gave a grant to C.D. Howe in 2021, but the organization would not confirm its size; MLI did not confirm whether it had received Amazon donations when The Logic first reported on the matter last month. 

Maunder is also a board member of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and of the C.D. Howe Institute’s International Economic Policy Council.

Update: Amazon initially declined to comment on whether Maunder’s departure was connected to The Logic’s reporting. After the story was published, an Amazon spokesperson provided comment.