The Complete Brief
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April 10, 2025
B.C. government steps up effort to reduce contracts with U.S. suppliers
The B.C. government is instructing its ministries, health authorities and core Crown corporations to review all contracts with an eye to reducing the province’s dependence on goods and services from U.S. suppliers amid the U.S.-Canada trade war.
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April 10, 2025
Saskatchewan amends Construction Codes Act regarding derelict structures
Saskatchewan’s Minister of Government Relations Eric Schmalz has introduced amendments to the Construction Codes Act to support the province’s pilot framework to help municipalities to deal with derelict structures.
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April 10, 2025
Constitutional clash brewing as Ottawa targets immigration bar with up to $1.5 million in admin penalties
Bar organizations are warning Ottawa that a new administrative monetary penalty regime to be applied to legal professionals — featuring penalties of up to $1.5 million for immigration and refugee lawyers determined by federal officials to have participated in clients’ misrepresentations — will be constitutionally challenged if lawyers are not exempted from the proposed regulations, which are expected to come into force later this year.
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April 10, 2025
Federal Court rejects Canada's motion to strike class action alleging RCMP doctors' misconduct
The Federal Court has dismissed a motion by Canada for an order to strike out portions of a statement of claim and to amend common issues in a class-action proceeding related to alleged abuses by medical doctors employed by the RCMP.
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April 10, 2025
Bernier v. Ottawa (Ville): A cautionary tale on waivers and negligence
The Ontario Superior Court decision of Bernier (Litigation guardian of) v. Ottawa (City), 2024 ONSC 6725 underscores the importance of comprehensive waivers to shield from liability and highlights the necessity of ensuring the signer fully understands the legal implications of the waiver.
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April 10, 2025
Are we inadvertently creating a surveillance state?
Canada is quietly becoming a nation where your face isn’t just yours anymore — it’s a data point in some corporate or government database, and nobody’s asking permission. The time is ripe to have an adult conversation about facial recognition technology in Canada — one that moves beyond simplistic trade-offs between security and privacy to examine the profound societal implications of biometric surveillance.
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April 10, 2025
Establishing irreparable harm: Difficulty in calculating damages for lost business not enough
In business disputes involving a request for injunctive relief, the moving party must generally establish that they would suffer irreparable harm that cannot be compensated for by monetary damages that would eventually be awarded at trial. However, courts have repeatedly held that difficulty in calculating damages for lost business is not sufficient to establish irreparable harm.
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April 10, 2025
Dismissal of class proceedings for delay: ONCA provides guidance
When is “mandatory dismissal for delay” actually mandatory?
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April 10, 2025
‘Constitution does not fade from view in times of crisis,’ Ontario Appeal Court says in COVID-19 case
A former Ontario legislator has emerged victorious in his constitutional challenge of COVID-era gathering limits, with his lawyer saying the ruling will set the standard for jurisprudence on freedom of assembly issues in Canada.
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April 10, 2025
Credibility finding in sexting case
I recently blogged about an Ontario case that discusses the issue of whether prior communications about sex are relevant in a sexual assault trial. Confusion often arises on this question because of the subtle distinction between threshold relevance and ultimate relevance, and the consequent failure to keep these concepts distinct in admissibility hearings under the s. 276 regime of the Criminal Code.