Real Estate

  • May 20, 2026

    Two stumbles forward, one back: Three wise men opine on Churchill Falls MOU after independent review

    Fifty-seven years ago, Hydro-Québec signed an advantageous contract with the Churchill Falls (Labrador) Corp. (CF(L)Co) for a large block of power at $2 per megawatt hour for 75 years. In December 2014, the premiers of Quebec and Labrador announced a proposed transaction for the existing dam plus 3,900-megawatt expansion products. Simultaneously, they released the Churchill Falls Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The document was not really a memorandum of understanding; it was a pastiche of draft contract sections plus schedules that reflected modelled quantities and prices.

  • May 19, 2026

    Carney announces members of Independent Advisory Board to help select next SCC judge

    On May 19, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the chair and members of the Independent Advisory Board for the Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments.

  • May 19, 2026

    Commercial real estate insurance: When the lights go out and the policy falls short

    Commercial real estate has become increasingly dependent on technology. Power systems, utilities, data networks and digital infrastructure now play a direct role in whether a building can operate, tenants can remain open and rent continues to flow.

  • May 15, 2026

    Dentons adds Michael Kershaw as partner in real estate group

    Dentons has welcomed Michael Kershaw as a partner in its national real estate group in Toronto.

  • May 13, 2026

    Kamil Umar returns to Dentons as real estate partner in Calgary

    Dentons has welcomed Kamil Umar back to the firm as a partner in its national real estate group in Calgary.

  • May 12, 2026

    Mortgage renewals to ease in 2026 amid rising stress in some regions: CMHC

    Canada’s residential mortgage market reached the peak of its renewal wave in 2025 as more borrowers faced rising financial stress while renewing loans at higher interest rates, according to a report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

  • May 12, 2026

    Court of Appeal quashes appeal of project restructuring order as interlocutory

    The Ontario Court of Appeal has quashed an appeal arising from a court-supervised sale process under the Ontario Business Corporations Act, holding that the order was interlocutory and therefore appealable only to the Divisional Court with leave.

  • May 12, 2026

    BINDING ARBITRATION

    Appeals by Vancouver School District (VSB) from three orders. Two procedural orders were made by Stephens J. staying the effect of an arbitral award and an order was made by Chan J., setting aside that award and substituting a lower valuation. The dispute arose under a long‑term commercial lease between VSB and Kingsgate/Beedie concerning rent for successive renewal terms.

  • May 12, 2026

    Relief from forfeiture: 8750297 Canada Inc. v. Ambassador Realty Inc.

    The Ontario Superior Court of Justice granted relief from forfeiture to an applicant who brought an application pursuant to s. 20(1) of the Commercial Tenancies Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. L.7 (CTA), and s. 98 of the Courts of Justice Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.43 (CJA).

  • May 11, 2026

    Proposed Quebec class action filed against Equifax and TransUnion

    A proposed class action has been filed in the Superior Court of Quebec against Equifax and TransUnion for alleged inaccurate credit information since 2023.

  • May 11, 2026

    Following Manitoba Budget 2026, amendments to land transfer tax legislation to come in 2027

    The Government of Manitoba has announced that, as part of Manitoba Budget 2026 that was released in March, it intends to amend the Tax Administration and Miscellaneous Taxes Act (Manitoba), with changes to take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

  • May 11, 2026

    Does ‘good faith’ impose a duty to disclose on a commercial landlord?

    Canadian law imposes two obligations on all parties to a commercial agreement such as a lease.

  • May 08, 2026

    SCC sheds new light on cause-of-action estoppel; clarifies requirements & application

    The Supreme Court of Canada has explained the contours and application of the cause-of-action estoppel branch of the common law doctrine of res judicata, dividing 6-3 in a Newfoundland and Labrador power-of-sale case to hold that the appellant mortgagee’s $4-million claim under a collateral mortgage is res judicata as it had already been determined in an earlier court proceeding.

  • May 08, 2026

    Privacy commissioner calls for permanent funding, prioritization of privacy

    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.

  • May 08, 2026

    Better Call Saul and AI: Changing the perception of the ‘ideal lawyer’

    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?

  • May 07, 2026

    Ban on non-competes, new crypto-asset reporting framework are features of latest federal budget bill

    The Carney government has introduced its second omnibus implementation bill to implement a slew of measures it proposed in the federal budget last November.

  • May 07, 2026

    Court allows appeal concerning limitation in class action conversion case

    The British Columbia Court of Appeal has partially allowed an appeal challenging the commencement date of an action that was later converted into a class proceeding arising from a building fire.

  • May 06, 2026

    Lalli v. Lalli and principles of resulting trust

    A recent Ontario Court of Appeal case revolves around a resulting trust claim. The issue before the court was whether the funds transferred by parents to their son and daughter-in-law for the purchase of a property constituted a gift, loan or were held on a resulting trust focusing on the intention of the parents.

  • May 05, 2026

    Former SCC justice Louise Arbour named Canada’s next governor general

    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.

  • May 05, 2026

    B.C. court rejects First Nation chief's Indigenous law injunction defence

    B.C.’s top court has rejected the arguments from a First Nations chief that he was acting in accordance with his peoples’ traditional laws when violating a court injunction against impeding the construction of a natural gas pipeline, saying such a defence if it were to be recognized could only be raised as a last resort.

  • May 05, 2026

    Darren Haines named partner at Aird & Berlis

    Aird & Berlis LLP has been joined by a new partner Darren Haines, according to a statement by the firm, is a member of the Indigenous practice, real estate and projects & infrastructure groups.

  • May 04, 2026

    Treaty medal and the Crown: No one’s bending the knee

    First-year property law, 1988. Two hundred students. I could feel the energy in the room of young people excited to have made it into UBC law school. Professor Tod enters and slams the door. Walks over to the podium and scans the room while saying, “All title is vested in the Crown.” I felt like he was looking directly at me or even searching for visibly First Nation students as if to say, “We will not be tolerating any uppity Indians in this course!”

  • May 04, 2026

    Ontario’s government wants to keep you in the dark: What are they hiding?

    Roughly every four years, voters elect a government and grant it significant powers and responsibilities. But winning an election does not mean one has been given carte blanche to act as they see fit until the next election. Governments must exercise public power in accordance with the Constitution, and voters have the right to know how elected officials are using this power. Ontario’s rushed amendments to freedom of information and privacy laws enacted a few days ago through the government’s Bill 97, Plan to Protect Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2026 directly attack both of these fundamental democratic principles.

  • May 04, 2026

    CIVIL PROCEDURE - Striking out pleadings or allegations - Failure to disclose a cause of action or defence - Costs

    Appeal by Strata from a chambers judge’s refusal to strike the respondents’ negligence claim. The underlying litigation concerned disputes over governance of a strata property, including allegations against the 2019 and 2020 Strata Council members relating to conflict of interest issues, lease renewals with Victoria Regent Hotel Ltd., and a 2021 Release.

  • May 01, 2026

    Bar says it ‘likely’ will appeal B.C. ruling that lawyer independence doesn’t require self-regulation

    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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