Judgment creditors across Canada…Here ye, here ye! On November 17, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada was presented with a weighty opportunity to determine how Canada’s federal privacy law, Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA"), could affect judgment creditors and mortgagees. In its long-awaited decision, the unanimous Court delivered a practical, balanced, and sound […]
On November 4th, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) heard oral submissions in the case of Douez v Facebook [Douez]. The appellant, Ms. Douez, sought to overturn an unanimous decision of the BC Court of Appeal (2015 BCCA 279) to stay a proposed class action against Facebook on the basis of a forum selection clause […]
In 2009, fully oblivious to the housing market collapse in the United States, I thought it a good idea to get into the Toronto condo market. With down payment money borrowed from my parents, I signed an Agreement of Purchase and Sale in a development project that promised to create a whole new neighbourhood on […]
Lafortune v Financière agricole du Québec, 2016 SCC 35, is a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada directly impacting Québec’s farming industry. The decision affirms La Financière Agricole du Québec’s (“La Financière”) administration of a farm income program known as the Programme d’assurance stabilisation des revenus agricoles (“ASRA Program”), concluding that such program […]
Controversy surrounding new provincial legislation in British Columbia to curb foreign investment in the housing market and talks of similar measures for Ontario have kept all eyes on the red-hot housing markets across Canada. Furthermore, new federal mandates will take effect starting October 17, 2016 for the purchasing of homes, which will likely cause further […]
Canadians routinely open bank accounts, take out loans, sign insurance, and wireless agreements. To facilitate these daily processes, companies often use standard form contracts. You do not need legal training to realize that such contracts are “take it or leave it” prepositions. However, for a business such as a construction company signing an insurance policy, […]
The Supreme Court of Canada’s (“SCC”) decision in Club Resorts Ltd v Van Breda, 2012 SCC 17 [Van Breda] brought greater judicial guidance to the question of when a Canadian court may assume jurisdiction over a claim. The SCC articulated four non-exhaustive presumptive connecting factors (PCFs) that a party may rely on to establish a […]
Much has already been written in regards to the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) in Wilson v Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, 2016 SCC 29 [Wilson]. It may seem surprising that it took thirty years to settle on Parliament’s intent in introducing the 1978 amendment to the Canada Labour Code, RSC […]
Ross-Clair, a division of R.O.M. Contractors Inc. v Canada (Attorney General), 2016 ONCA 205 [Ross-Clair] is the Ontario Court of Appeal’s (“ONCA”) latest decision affecting the commercial construction industry. Commercial construction contracts typically include not only arbitration clauses, but also detailed provisions on how to deal with disputes over additional costs incurred during the project […]
Being laid off close to the age of retirement can be quite a devastating experience. It is all the more devastating when you have worked for the same company for three decades and your skills may not reflect current job market needs. Add to this the fact that, because of your employment contract, you are […]