What is the test for establishing a civil conspiracy?

I certainly agree that the acts of the defendants must be causally related to loss or damage to the plaintiff for purposes of establishing a civil conspiracy. As stated in Lombardo v. Caiazzo (2006) 211 O.A.C. 270, “A conspiracy that does not result in damages is not actionable.” (Para. 16.) The fact that the plaintiff must have suffered loss as a result of the conspiracy, however, does not mean it must have changed its position or relied to its detriment on misconduct of the defendant. In Canada Cement LaFarge, for example, the defendants were alleged to have conspired to drive the plaintiff aggregate manufacturer out of business through marketing arrangements aimed at dividing the concrete products market in British Columbia between two of the defendants. Although the plaintiff’s claim ultimately failed, no issue arose concerning the sustainability in theory of the plaintiff’s claim to loss of the “benefits of a free market” as a result of the alleged conspiracy.