Labour & Employment
-
December 19, 2025
A season for sharing: The legal and moral case for ensuring everyone has enough food at Christmas
Every Christmas, families across Canada gather around warm meals that symbolize dignity, community and care. Yet for many households in Alberta and across the country, rising costs and winter pressures make it difficult to afford even the most basic groceries. Food insecurity turns what should be a season of comfort into a time of anxiety.
-
December 17, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal resolves ‘jurisdictional dead end’ in labour dispute
Ontario’s top court has ruled that judges must maintain authority over claims involving entities not party to a collective agreement, but has emphasized that “proper respect” is owed to specialized tribunals and requires courts to consider staying parallel litigation if the dispute is before a labour arbitrator.
-
December 17, 2025
New regulation on special economic zones in Ontario comes into effect Jan. 1
A new regulation in Ontario, which sets out “criteria to designate special economic zones, trusted proponents and projects,” will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. According to a government release, the regulation “supports the advancement of job-creating investments and projects that are of strategic and critical importance to Ontario’s economic security.”
-
December 17, 2025
Bill C-16 must go further for older Canadians
Elder abuse does not always announce itself with bruises or broken bones. Often, it arrives through isolation, intimidation, financial control and fear. For many older victims, coercive control is the harm that shapes daily life long before anyone calls it violence or criminal neglect. It is gradual, cumulative and profoundly destabilizing, yet frequently invisible to outsiders.
-
December 16, 2025
Feds announce Buy Canadian policy now in effect
Canada has announced that core elements of the Buy Canadian policy have been implemented and are now in effect. It said the policy supports workers, strengthens domestic industries and creates a more diversified economy.
-
December 16, 2025
Ottawa sanctions four senior Iranian officials for gross human rights violations in Iran
Ottawa has imposed sanctions against four Iranian senior officials who the federal government says “have been involved in gross and systematic human rights violations” in the Islamic Republic of Iran where they “have had a significant role in facilitating and directing repressive policies.”
-
December 16, 2025
Hosel rockets: ‘Sandbagger?! I’ll see you in court!’
A couple of incidents that happened while playing golf have been bothering me. It started a few years ago during an invitational tournament at what was then known as Doral Golf and Country Club in Florida. Our happy foursome was finishing the front nine of the famous 18-hole course called the Blue Monster. While waiting on the ninth tee, staring down a par three over water and into a stiff breeze, I made small talk with the fellows in our group: “Who won the tournament last year?” Their expressions suddenly turned sour, and one muttered, “Two [expletive] sandbaggers!” Then another added, “Those [expletive] cheaters will never be invited back, [expletive] them.”
-
December 15, 2025
Ontario announces draft regulation for mutual free-trade recognition
Ontario has announced it is publishing a draft regulation under the Ontario Free Trade and Mobility Act to implement mutual recognition of goods and services from reciprocating Canadian jurisdictions. The move will support economic integration and remove internal trade barriers, which the province said costs the economy up to $200 billion every year.
-
December 15, 2025
New Alberta legislation limits law society’s education, disciplinary powers
Hot on the heels of a controversial bill to limit the disciplinary authority of professional regulatory bodies, Alberta legislators have also passed a bill that brings significant change to the governance of the legal profession in the province — a move some legal observers are saying seems to reflect a distrust of the provincial law society.
-
December 15, 2025
DS Lawyers is now Prelia
DS Lawyers has adopted a new name, Prelia, as the first phase of its international rebranding, the firm announced.