It's the competition bureau. So basically they would get involved if the move was not in the interest of fair competition.
In the Balsillie case, the NHL argued that blocking him from buying the team was not a monopolistic act by the league because their was a legitimate number of benefits to keeping the team in arizona:
- creating and enhancing spectator interest by preserving traditional team rivalries and fostering the development of new ones;
- encouraging investment by private parties and municipalities in arena construction and related infrastructure;
- respecting the investment made by private parties in the supply of refreshments, parking, transportation, and team and league paraphernalia relating to the franchise;
- attracting spectators and corporate sponsors by showing a strong commitment to a local market and the league as a whole;
- ensuring that the sport is being appropriately promoted and that the reputation and goodwill of the league and its individual teams are not being compromised; and
- maximizing revenues generated by the league in the form of television and media coverage rights by promoting the overall stability of the franchises that constitute the league and creating an appropriate regional balance to ensure that the greatest number of spectators is reached.
While some of these would also be achieved by starting a franchise to QC, moving the team from Ottawa would pretty much break every one of these the clauses above that the NHL used to block out Balsillie.
Does it still apply if Melnyk is moving on his own...maybe not?
But if any new buyer, or significant new financial partner was involved in moving the team to a same/worse market than Ottawa, when new local owners were willing to keep it in Ottawa...then it would be very hard for the NHL to make the case that they were not using Monopolistic power to choose the new market over the old market, because they would essentially have to argue against the exact points they provided to the bureau a decade ago.
Caveat...I am not a lawyer. if there is one out there, please clarify and correct.