In-House Counsel
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June 03, 2025
The finfluencer effect: Unregulated viral money tips outpacing Canada’s securities regulators
Imagine taking medical advice from a stranger who got famous doing viral dance challenges. Sounds absurd, right? Yet millions of Canadians are doing the financial equivalent: trusting their hard-earned money to unlicensed social media “gurus” who dish out investment tips between memes and makeup tutorials.
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June 03, 2025
Beware the nuances of probationary employment
Probationary periods of employment are nothing new, but employers who fail to grasp the nuances involved can face significant legal consequences.
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June 02, 2025
Prime Minister Carney taps Montreal lawyers for key roles in PMO
Prime Minister Mark Carney has hired prominent Montreal lawyer Marc-André Blanchard, the former chair and CEO of McCarthy Tétrault LLP, as his chief of staff, while ex-federal justice minister David Lametti, counsel with Montreal’s Fasken, is also taking on senior responsibilities in the new Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), according to media reports.
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June 02, 2025
Proposed changes to Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program
On May 28, 2025, the Ontario government introduced Bill 30, the Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025. If the bill is passed, it will implement policy and legislative changes related to employment law, occupational health and safety, administrative law and immigration. This article focuses on the proposed changes to the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP).
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June 02, 2025
Guarantees and summary judgment: Court reviews important considerations
In Royal Bank of Canada v. HI & DQ’s Foods Inc., 2025 ONSC 2774, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice addressed several issues relating to personal guarantees in commercial lending. The decision confirms that summary judgment can be appropriate in a claim against a guarantor and clarifies the limited scope of fiduciary duties owed by financial institutions, the responsibilities of corporate directors acting as guarantors, and the narrow availability of the defence of non est factum.
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June 02, 2025
Clear as mud? Ontario courts provide context regarding waiver of OBCA dissent rights
In the context of shareholders’ agreements, contracting parties may waive their statutory dissent rights afforded under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (OBCA). In order for the waiver to be enforceable it must be made with clear and direct language.
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May 30, 2025
Report finds B.C. women earned 85 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2024
Women in British Columbia earned 85 cents for every dollar earned by men in 2024, making it the province with the fourth-largest gender pay gap, according to the province’s pay transparency report for 2024, released on May 30.
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May 30, 2025
OSC initiative aims to spur creation of new long-term investment products
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced the start of its OSC LaunchPad Long-Term Asset Fund Project, aimed at bringing new investment-fund products to market that are geared to long-term assets.
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May 30, 2025
SCC rules Quebec licensing law does not apply to firms providing airport, maritime private security
In a judgment that turns on the application of the constitutional doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that Quebec’s Private Security Act (PSA) does not apply to two companies that engage in airport and marine port security in the province because the Quebec law impairs activities at the core of exclusive federal jurisdiction over aeronautics, navigation and shipping.
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May 30, 2025
B.C. Court of Appeal rejects lower court insurance ruling, restoring coverage to mining company
In the wake of a 2018 landslide in northern British Columbia, the B.C. Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court ruling, concluding that the judge erred by interpreting an insurance certificate and a broker’s actions too narrowly, cutting a mining company out of coverage for a lawsuit arising from the landslide.