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May 21, 2026
Ontario’s top court has turned back an attempt to gain hundreds of documents as part of a constitutional challenge of Ontario’s car insurance regime. The Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision is part of a larger case about the constitutionality of Ontario’s Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT), which has exclusive jurisdiction over the administration of the province’s no-fault statutory accident benefits regime.
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May 21, 2026
Minister of Health Marjorie Michel has tabled the report of the third legislative review of the Tobacco and Vaping Products Act (TVPA) in Parliament, focused on compliance, enforcement and related actions.
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May 20, 2026
For seriously injured Ontarians, a catastrophic impairment (CAT) designation is critical. It unlocks enhanced medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits, often the difference between meaningful recovery and long-term hardship.
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May 19, 2026
The release of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal’s latest annual report sets the stage for an increase in webcasts and a push to educate people on the importance of judicial independence, says the province’s top judge.
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May 19, 2026
In my handy Wilderness Survival Guide, there is a step-by-step guide to building the perfect bonfire. I was reminded of it as I read last week’s Supreme Court of Canada decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16, which has created a new tort — the tort of family violence for coercive and controlling behaviour.
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May 15, 2026
The Supreme Court of Canada has created 6-3 a new common law tort of “intimate partner violence” (IPV), which may be claimed separately or within family law proceedings. The far-reaching five-judge majority judgment, written by Justice Nicholas Kasirer (along with a separate lone concurrence by Justice Andromache Karakatsanis), not only recognizes a new tort, it elaborates on when novel torts should be created and on the roles of courts and legislatures in developing the law: Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16.
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May 14, 2026
The Government of Alberta is introducing a “new adjusted rate cap alongside the province’s new Care-First auto insurance system,” which will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
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May 14, 2026
An organization representing trial lawyers in Ontario is raising alarm bells about upcoming changes to the province’s car accident benefit system, saying they may lead people to realize too late that their coverage is not as comprehensive as they think.
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May 14, 2026
Canadian private sector organizations are subject to a combination of compliance requirements under federal and provincial privacy laws. These laws share some common features but also some differences. One privacy obligation that varies across jurisdictions is when an organization is required to notify the applicable regulatory authority of a privacy breach event. A privacy breach refers to those events that result in the loss of unauthorized access to, or unauthorized disclosure of, personal information.
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May 11, 2026
On May 6, Liberal member of Parliament Michael Coteau introduced a private member’s bill in Parliament to regulate the online use and dissemination of deepfakes, but high-profile privacy lawyer David Fraser warns that the proposed law will place an undue burden on digital platforms.
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May 11, 2026
Three and a half years ago, I wrote in this column about the dangers of forcing treatment on people with serious mental health issues as a condition of keeping them living in the community.
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May 08, 2026
The B.C. Court of Appeal has struck a third-party claim against the province’s athletic commissioner arising from allegations of negligent regulation of a martial arts competition in which a participant suffered catastrophic injuries.
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May 08, 2026
In remarks delivered to the House of Commons, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada emphasized the “impact of a rapidly evolving technological environment,” called for modernization of federal privacy laws and advocated for permanent funding of his office.
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May 08, 2026
Post-winter injury files are arriving later, and the delay is increasingly being used to defeat claims outright. People are coming forward weeks after a slip on ice, a fall in a parking lot or a low-speed winter collision with symptoms that were not obvious on day one. The incident is often straightforward. The litigation problem is whether the later impairment can be connected, on evidence, to that earlier event.
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May 08, 2026
The Ontario Trial Lawyers Association (OTLA) has elected K. Jay Ralston as its president for the 2026–27 term.
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May 08, 2026
Spoiler Alert: The following contains plot details from Better Call Saul. Charles McGill, the decorated senior partner in the TV series Better Call Saul, is everything the legal profession tells itself it stands for: principled, authoritative, a guardian of the rule of law. His younger brother Jimmy — the poor, hustling, desperate Saul Goodman — represents everything the profession looks down on. But as artificial intelligence dismantles the gatekeeping function that long justified the legal profession’s self-image, it is worth asking: which one of them is a more accurate reflection of a lawyer?
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May 07, 2026
The Carney government has introduced its second omnibus implementation bill to implement a slew of measures it proposed in the federal budget last November.
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May 07, 2026
There may be a new sheriff in town. The provincial government in Ontario plans to introduce regulations designating transit special constables as “officers” under the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act, 2025 (RPCISA). This move will grant them sweeping powers to arrest and detain individuals and to search, seize and even destroy property.
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May 06, 2026
New Brunswick has proposed legislation aimed at improving patient safety and “quality of care” through the establishment of an advisory committee, the clarifying of what is meant by “safety incidents” and improving the use of data in tracking trends.
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May 05, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that former Supreme Court of Canada justice Louise Arbour will become Canada’s next governor general. Arbour will become the first former judge of the top court to take on the vice-regal role.
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May 05, 2026
An audit by an extended health benefits insurer can be an extremely invasive and stressful process for a health provider such as a health clinic or health professional. These audits also carry significant potential consequences, including demands for repayment, being delisted by the insurer and complaints to regulatory colleges.
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May 01, 2026
The Ontario Court of Appeal has quashed an appeal in an alleged medical malpractice case, ruling that an order allowing two doctors to be added as defendants did not finally determine their limitations defence and could only be appealed to the Divisional Court with leave.
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May 01, 2026
The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned an order requiring two insurers to share responsibility for accident benefits, finding that an arbitrator reasonably held the first insurer fully liable after it failed to pay benefits and notify the insurer that would otherwise have been responsible.
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May 01, 2026
Heralding a significant shift in the Canadian legal landscape, the British Columbia Supreme Court has rejected the legal profession’s constitutional challenge to the B.C. Legal Professions Act — legislation that would end more than 150 years of lawyer self-governance and self-regulation by benchers elected from the provincial bar.
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April 30, 2026
Long-term disability claims involving chronic pain and mental health conditions are being denied or subjected to prolonged review at rates that have increased meaningfully over the past several years. The conditions most affected are not those with straightforward, objectively measurable pathology.