By Julius Melnitzer | December 13, 2021 Short of abusive behaviour, companies are allowed to minimize their tax liability In November, the SCC rejected Ottawa’s claim that the taxpayer, a Luxembourg resident, should be denied the benefit of the Canada-Luxembourg tax treaty because it engaged in treaty shopping and its economic ties to Luxembourg were […]
By Julius Melnitzer | December 6, 2021 JUDGE TAKES FOUR YEARS TO DELIVER REASONS AFTER THREE-DAY TRIAL The trial involved only three days of evidence. But Judge Kofi Barnes of the Ontario Superior Court took four years to deliver reasons. And that was some 31 months after Shane Artis appealed his conviction and 10-year sentence […]
The ruling can be a roadmap for a win-win relationship with First Nations By Julius Melnitzer | November 30, 2021 Resource developers are welcoming an Alberta Court of Appeal ruling in October requiring the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) to address Indigenous groups’ economic interests in its decisions. The ruling followed on an appeal by AltaLink […]
By Julius Melnitzer | November 28, 2021 The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a Superior Court decision that allowed an employee to receive his stock option awards throughout his 24 months of reasonable notice on the grounds that the employer had failed to provide adequate notice of termination. “The decision gives important guidance to […]
By Julius Melnitzer | November 17, 2021 If you’re one of the Canadians named in the Pandora papers, the latest massive leak of information related to tax havens, how much sleep do you really need to lose? That depends. “Is there smoke or is there fire?” asks David Rotfleisch, the founding partner at Toronto tax […]
By Julius Melnitzer | November 11, 2021 IVANHOé CAMBRIDGE IN-HOUSE LAWYERS MOVE TO BLG “In-house” gets new meaning as part of Ivanhoé Cambridge’s (IC) law department moves to Borden Ladner Gervais LLP offices in Montreal and Toronto. All this pursuant to an agreement for BLG to manage legal services for shopping centres owned by IC, […]
The ruling leaves provinces with little wiggle room in opposing such measures going forward By Julius Melnitzer | November 3, 2021 A recent Federal Court ruling validating the federal government’s fuel charge backstop on Manitoba because the province’s own carbon pricing regime was not “stringent” enough leaves provinces with little wiggle room in opposing such […]
By Julius Melnitzer | October 29, 2021 CLIENT SATISFACTION WITH LAWYERS PEAKS DURING PANDEMIC A UK survey suggests the inability to meet lawyers in person has, at the very least, not diminished clients’ satisfaction with their services. Indeed, according to the Law Society Gazette, satisfaction levels reached an all-time high during the pandemic. The Legal […]
By Julius Melnitzer | October 25, 2021 Fossil fuels may be in the doldrums with a precipitous future ahead, but energy law and the demand for energy lawyers is alive and well. “Generally speaking, recruitment activity in the overall energy sector has increased,” said Carrie Heller, president of The Heller Group Legal and Executive Search, […]
By Julius Melnitzer | October 25, 2021 By all accounts, environmental, social and governance (ESG) litigation will soon be flooding Canada’s courts. The international trend, after all, is undeniable: according to the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School, more than 1,385 lawsuits seeking relief from climate change, which is but one […]