PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO The potential savings on wealth transfer taxes with Bill C-208 could amount to as much as $400,000 “Keeping the business in the family” will get a whole lot easier — and a whole lot less costly — when Bill C-208, which received Royal Assent this week, comes into force on January […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 25, 2021 MIXED RESULTS IN INDIGENOUS CLASS ACTIONS Indigenous class actions seeking to impose liability for mistreatment on governments and police have achieved mixed results. On June 23, the Federal Court certified a class consisting of Aboriginal persons assaulted by the RCMP while in custody in the Northwest Territories. The […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 23, 2021 Bill and Melinda Gates are an inspiration to many. Class is all over them, including the way they handled the announcement of their separation on Twitter after 27 years of marriage. So why not follow one of today’s leading influencers and do the same thing? “When people are […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 22, 2021 There’s a serious irony in the notion that the cryptocurrency landscape still resembles the Wild West. “I would argue that it never did,” says David Rotfleisch of Toronto-based tax boutique Rotfleisch & Samulovitch P.C. “After all, it’s based on blockchain, which records every single transaction on a ledger […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 21, 2021 “inadequate” men suit financial services prototypes “Mediocre” male managers practising “fake empathy” are holding back women in the finance industry, says a new report from Women in Banking and Finance and the London School of Economics (LSE). Apparently, the men were more likely to succeed because they fit […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 16, 2021 Make no mistake about it: Bill C-12, the federal legislation designed to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions is nothing more than a top-down mandate focused on making net zero emissions commitment the obligation of the federal government. “What Bill C-12 doesn’t tell us is how the federal government […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 9, 2021 Law school and the practice of law, it often seems, have only the law in common. But as many inductees to the profession have discovered, that’s not necessarily enough – practically or psychologically. “I was astounded how different the practise of law is from what we’re told in […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 14, 2021 Modern Advocacy Task Force releases final report The Advocates’ Society Modern Advocacy Task Force has just released its final report, The Right to be Heard: The Future of Advocacy in Canada. The report identifies four overarching principles: the open court principle, the imperative of access to justice, the […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 11, 2021 An arbitration clause that doesn’t explicitly prohibit a terminated employee from making a complaint to the Ministry of Labour doesn’t offend employment standards legislation, the Ontario Superior Court has ruled. “The ruling will give comfort to employers that Ontario courts will enforce arbitration clauses,” says David Vaillancourt of […]
By Julius Melnitzer | June 7, 2021 OCA: COUNSEL’S FAILURE TO EXPLAIN BLENDED PROCEDURE IMPACT VITIATES CONVICTION The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that an accused who testified and made what amounted to a full confession on a voir dire should have his conviction overturned because counsel failed to advise him before agreeing to […]