The Supreme Court recently released its opinion on the federal government’s proposed Securities Act, deciding that the proposal is not a valid exercise of federal power under the general branch of the trade and commerce power (see Reference re Securities Act, 2011 SCC 66). Rather than rejecting the idea of a national securities regulator per […]
When deciding cases relating to tax planning - or the minimization of a taxpayer’s tax burden - judges face the daunting task of reconciling a tension between longstanding common law principles and s. 245 of the Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c.1, the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR). On the one hand, Lord Tomlin’s holding in […]
In November of last year, Justice Binnie, for a unanimous Supreme Court of Canada, denied an appeal brought by the Lax Kw’alaams First Nations, along with other First Nations groups “whose ancestral lands stretch along the northwest coast of British Columbia between the estuaries of the Nass and lower Skeena Rivers” (see Lax Kw'alaams Indian […]
On Christmas Eve in 2001, a car crash left Robert Kusnierz with numerous injuries, the most serious of which required the amputation of his left leg below the knee. Kusnierz sues his insurer, Economical Mutual Insurance Company, for a declaration that he sustained a “catastrophic impairment” under clause 2(1.1)(f) of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule – […]