Structured settlements: Hopes and dreams or real and certain?
Personal injury lawyers should examine the feasibility of structured settlements (a settlement paid out as an annuity, not all in one lump sum) more closely in today’s low interest environment, a veteran plaintiff’s counsel maintains. “The bar has become extremely comfortable with structures, partly because there’s no real incentive for lawyers to dig deeper,” says […]
New workplace harassment law will be real ‘game changer’ for employers
Employers will have to completely reassess how they manage harassment and violence in the workplace, costing hundreds of millions All eyes may be on the numerous amendments to the Canada Labour Code (CLC) that take effect on Sept. 1, but their impact on the 18,000 federally regulated employers and 900,000 employees governed by the legislation […]
SNC-Lavalin affair: Jobs over democracy
The “public interest,” it turns out, can be a real threat to democracy. It is, after all, the catchphrase that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used to justify his contravention of the Conflict of Interest Act by pressuring former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin. The PM’s spin on the whole thing […]
In Callidus Capital, SCC looks at litigation funding
With the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to hear the appeal in 9354-9186 Québec inc., et al. v. Callidus Capital Corporation 2018 QCCA 632, litigation funding will for the first time be front and centre at the high court. And because it arises in the context of a Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act proceeding, the decision will be particularly significant […]
Alberta court rules against double-dipping in disability payments, lost wages
An Alberta court has ruled that employees receiving disability payments during the reasonable notice period can’t “double-dip” by receiving payments for lost wages. “The decision affirms the principle that employees are entitled only to what they would have received had they been working during the notice period,” says Sheena Owens, an employment lawyer at Stikeman […]
Competition Bureau’s Call for Intel on Anti-Competitive Conduct in Digital Economy Raises Eyebrows
In a general sense, what the Bureau wants to know is whether the characteristics of certain digital markets favour concentration — a process called ‘tipping’ The Competition Bureau’s recent call to Canadians to flag anti-competitive conduct in the digital economy is raising eyebrows among industry professionals. Certainly, the Bureau’s consultation seems far more concrete than […]
Federal Court reins in Immigration and Refugee Board
The Federal Court has limited the power of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada’s (IRB) chairperson to issue jurisprudential guides (JGs) on issues of fact, where the JGs create an “expectation” that board members were bound to follow the directives. Although Chief Justice Paul Crampton’s decision in Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers v. Canada (Minster […]
FSRA offering late-filing pension plans ‘safe harbour’ on administrative monetary policies
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority is giving late-filing pension plans a “one-time” opportunity to avoid administrative monetary penalties. The “safe harbour,” which applies to any outstanding filings under the Pension Benefits Act, expires on Oct. 31. “Rather than have people concerned about flagging non-compliance with late filings, the FSRA has offered this amnesty of sorts,” […]
A New Tax Law Could Spell Trouble for Safe Havens and Shell Companies — and it’s Already on the CRA’s Radar
The new law has set its sights on holding or shell companies set up principally to take advantage of a double taxation treaty Foreigners looking to Canada as a tax haven and Canadians seeking havens abroad will have to deal with a whole new set of rules when the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Multilateral Instrument […]
Scheer’s Call for SNC Lavalin Inquiry During Election Dangerous Precedent
It may just be the brouhaha over Andrew Scheer’s dual citizenship that made me link Donald Trump’s vow to “jail Hillary” and “lock her up” with the Conservative leader’s pledge — in the middle of an election campaign, no less — to launch a judicial inquiry into Justin Trudeau’s conduct in the SNC Lavalin scandal. […]