Jun 22, 2021Staying Administrative Proceedings Due to Delay: Is the Law Changing? The Supreme Court of Canada recently granted leave to appeal from the decision of Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz,[1] a decision of the Court of Appeal…
Jun 21, 2021The Ontario Court of Appeal Provides a Clear Solution to the Common Employer Doctrine In O’Reilly v ClearMRI Solutions Ltd.[1], the Ontario Court of Appeal clarified when the “common employer doctrine” will ascribe liability to a corporation in respect of an…
Jun 17, 2021If a debt is outstanding, but not enforceable in court… is it really a debt? The classic pseudo-philosophical question of: If a tree falls in a forest when no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? reveals a tension around…
Jun 10, 2021Change of Plans – New Amendments to Ontario’s Planning Act and their Impact on Commercial Leasing Background Although frequently ignored by leasing professionals (and even some lawyers!), the Planning Act prohibits leases in Ontario from having a term longer than 21 years (including…
Construction Reopens June 11th, 2021 – Are your Delay Claims Ready? Starting June 11th, 2021, Ontario will officially enter Step 1 of the recently announced Roadmap to Reopen framework. For those in the construction industry, this means that…
Jun 9, 2021The Home Stretch: Ontario Extends Temporary ESA COVID-19 Rules to September 25, 2021 On May 29, 2020, as Ontario was in the midst of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ontario government introduced Ontario Regulation 228/20 (the “Regulation”)…
Jun 8, 2021Transportation Notes: Contents of Cockpit Voice Recorder Released in Class Action In Canada (Transportation Safety Board) v Carroll-Byrne, 2021 NSCA 34 (“Carroll-Byrne”), the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s authorization of the conditional release of…
May 20, 2021Expert Evidence: A Refresher from the Court of Appeal on the Key Roles of the Judge, Expert and Counsel The Ontario Court of Appeal in Parliament v. Conley, 2021 ONCA 261 has provided a refresher for judges, experts and counsel on the roles each plays when dealing with…
May 10, 2021Policy, not law: the Divisional Court discusses the Clergy principle On May 5, 2021, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision in Masters v Claremont Development Corporation[1], which discusses the Clergy principle, as well as the jurisdiction…
May 5, 2021Estopped by a Shared Assumption: The Court of Appeal Clarifies the Doctrine of Estoppel by Convention On April 1, 2021, the Ontario Court of Appeal reviewed and clarified the equitable doctrine of estoppel by convention in its decision in Fram Elgin Mills 90 Inc.…
Apr 29, 2021Stay Home and Stay Safe: Ontario Announces Paid Sick Leave to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has placed the Ontario government in the unenviable position of having to balance the need to protect workers with the need to preserve…
Apr 22, 2021Reflections on Half a Century in the Commercial Litigation Trenches: Part III Click here to read Part I and Part II. The Department of Justice in Ottawa: With Peter Hogg’s “Constitutional Law of Canada” in hand, I was ready to continue my…
Apr 20, 2021Toronto and Peel to Name and Shut down Workplaces with COVID-19 Breakouts; Other Regions may Follows may Follow As Ontario continues to experience its third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become clear that this wave is quite unlike the previous two. While Ontario…
Apr 14, 2021Ontario’s Provincial Emergency and Stay-at-Home Order: What It Means for Retail Today The Ontario government recently announced the province-wide Stay-at-Home order (“Order”) that has taken effect pursuant to section 7.0.1(1) of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act (“EMCPA”).…
Apr 12, 2021Employers, Are you Ready? Ontario Continues to Ramp up Workplace Inspection Efforts In January 2021, the Ontario government announced that it was ramping up workplace health and safety inspections in an effort to combat COVID-19.[1] With COVID-19 cases again…
Apr 8, 2021Rebel, Rebel, Your Case is a Mess: More on the Challenges of Anti—SLAPP Motions In November 2015, amendments to Ontario’s Courts of Justice Act facilitated the early dismissal of “strategic lawsuits against public participation”. The aim was to prevent the censure and intimidation…
Apr 7, 2021Transportation Notes: Pair of Passenger Class Actions Certified Against WestJet The British Columbia Supreme Court has certified two class actions against WestJet. In one, the central allegation is that WestJet charged baggage fees despite stating in its…
Mar 26, 2021A Matter of National Concern: The Supreme Court of Canada Upholds a Federal Price on Carbon The Decision On March 25, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in the highly anticipated Reference re Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act.[1] In…
Mar 19, 2021What Regulators Can Learn from the Criminal Courts about Sexual Abuse Cases It is no secret that there has been a societal reckoning about sexual abuse in the last few years. From the #MeToo movement to the amendments to…
Mar 18, 2021The Rise of the Unregistered Priority Interest: Significant Priorities Cases in 2020 The significant priorities cases in 2020 arose in every imaginable context from the sale of residential properties to construction projects to remediating environmental damage. The overarching theme…
Mar 17, 2021Only Bricks and Mortar? Your Performance Bond Might Cover More Than You Think Players in the construction industry rely on risk allocation to keep the industry functioning. As Covid-19 has reminded us, the world is full of uncertainty; even carefully…
Mar 11, 2021Modernizing the Ontario Business Corporations Act On December 8, 2020, the Ontario legislature enacted the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, 2020 (the “Act”),[1] which provides key amendments to both the Ontario…
Mar 6, 2021How Is the Sausage Made?: Public Access to Third Party Information in Government Records The decision in Concord Premium Meats Ltd. v Canada (Food Inspection Agency), 2020 FC 1166, illustrates how Canadian freedom of information legislation balances the public right to access government…
Feb 26, 2021Handle with Care: Joint Document Books in Civil Trials Two cases that the Ontario Court of Appeal decided in the last year illustrate how much thought and care must go into preparing a Joint Document Book…
Amendments to the Expropriations Act Proposed Under Bill 245 The Ontario government has proposed a number of changes to the Expropriations Act under Bill 245, the “Accelerating Access to Justice Act, 2021”. Bill 245 would enact…
Feb 24, 2021Reasonable, or Unreasonable? That is the Question – Using Discretion in Construction Projects Should be Reasonable On February 5, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) released its decision in Wastech Services Ltd. v Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District[1] (“Wastech”). This decision…
Feb 18, 2021Fair is Fowl and Fowl is Fair: Implications of the Ontario Court of Appeal’s Decisions in Subway v CBC The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released two decisions under Ontario’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation) legislation: Subway Franchise Systems of Canada, Inc. v Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2021…
Feb 17, 2021Here’s the Drill: Strategic Procurement – Drawbacks of Using Nonnegotiable Supplementary Conditions in RFPs Requests for proposals (“RFPs”) are a popular procurement model for those looking to hire a construction contractor. RFPs will commonly stipulate the form of contract the owner…
Feb 16, 2021Transportation Notes: Air Carrier Avoids Liability for Refusal to Transport Disruptive Passenger The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal (BCCRT) recently ruled on a dispute involving an air carrier refusing to transport a disruptive passenger. In Serbinenko v. Air Canada,…
Feb 9, 2021An Ounce of Prevention: Ten Questions for Employers to Help Assess their Compliance with Employment Laws Employers have faced no shortage of challenges and obstacles in complying with employment and workplace laws and regulations, particularly given the rapidly shifting employment landscape and ever-changing…
Jan 29, 2021The Home Construction Regulatory Authority Replaces Tarion as Regulator of Ontario’s Homebuilding Industry Big changes to the licensing and regulation of Ontario’s homebuilding industry are here. Effective February 1, 2021, a new stand-alone regulator called the Home Construction Regulatory Authority…
Reflections on Half a Century in the Commercial Litigation Trenches: Part II Click here to read Part I. Arnup Leaves and an Offer Is Made Shortly after I joined WeirFoulds, John Arnup left the firm for the Court of…
Jan 21, 2021Ontario Further Expands its Workplace Inspections Campaign to Combat COVID-19 Last week, the Ontario government announced that it would be ramping up workplace inspections to combat the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the province.[1] The government’s…
Privacy Web Series: A Primer on the Proposed Legislative Changes in Privacy Law A long-awaited overhaul of privacy law is at hand to bring Canadian privacy legislation more in line with global standards, and address the challenges posed by new…
Here’s the Drill: Prompt Payment – Are your contracts in order? In October 2019, the prompt payment rules were introduced to Ontario’s construction industry as part of the province’s updated Construction Act. The rules mark a significant shift…