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October 01, 2026
The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) contract’s central weakness is the absence of a workable structure for an energy-only transaction during system stress. The parties appear not to have established how an energy-only commitment should operate when the seller has inadequate energy, capacity or water reserves to serve all demands.
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October 01, 2026
Hydro-Québec is a Crown corporation owned by the Quebec government. Unlike most U.S. utilities, its finances and policies are strongly shaped by the provincial government and the governing party’s policy objectives. Quebec has a regulatory agency, but it is also part of the provincial governmental structure.
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September 30, 2026
At the car dealership, we ask about horsepower, fuel economy and whether the monthly payment will ruin our weekend. We do not usually ask whether the vehicle remembers where we went last Tuesday. It might.
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September 30, 2026
For executors, managing a deceased’s commercial covenants requires fulfilling the dead’s obligations without exposing the trustee to personal liability. It is incumbent on lawyers to inform, advise and protect their clients regarding these obligations.
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September 30, 2026
Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté says she finds intervener advocacy on Zoom to be as effective as oral submissions made in the courtroom, but she is also alive to contrary arguments made by legal organizations, such as the Canadian Bar Association and The Advocates’ Society.
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September 30, 2026
On Sept. 8, 2026, the parties to the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) agreements filed federal complaints concerning Hydro-Québec’s interruption of deliveries to Massachusetts during the first two months of the 20-year agreement.
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September 29, 2026
The Federal Court of Appeal has found that a Bell employee established a prima facie case of disability discrimination after the company terminated her employment and ended her disability coverage before she began a planned gradual return to work.
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September 29, 2026
A group of shareholders restricts a minority shareholders’ access to the company’s financial statements. The objective isn’t administrative, but rather tactical: to keep the minority in the dark about the company’s actual financial condition, pressure them into selling below fair market value, or conceal irregularities like excessive compensation and disguised dividends.
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September 29, 2026
The lengthy decision in Canada (National Revenue) v. Zeifmans LLP, 2026 FCA 147 in part involves a detailed analysis of the legal concepts of abuse of process and improper collateral attack as well as the relevant decisions in Canada (Customs and Revenue Agency) v. Artistic Ideas Inc., 2005 FCA 68 and Redeemer Foundation v. Minister of National Revenue, 2008 SCC 46.
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September 29, 2026
Canadian lawyers are rapidly adopting artificial intelligence tools to streamline legal work, but industry leaders say firms must carefully assess privacy and data-retention risks. While AI could lower the cost of legal services and help serve more clients, it cannot replace human judgment and client relationships, they say.
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September 29, 2026
In general, a writ of mandamus (“mandamus”) is a formal court order that requires a government official, an agency or a lower court to take a specific action. The action must be within the duties of the office, agency or court, and there must be a legal requirement that the action be performed. Mandamus is extraordinary relief and is effectively utilized when there is a clear legal duty to be performed, a clear right to relief on the part of the petitioner, and the petitioner appears to have no alternative to obtain the relief they deserve.
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September 29, 2026
In this case, the plaintiffs were a group of associated Swatch companies (Swatch) that owned a series of trademarks including Swatch, Tissot and Longines, registered for use with watches and in some cases smartwatches. The claim related to digital watch faces (apps) that could be downloaded to Samsung’s smartwatches from the Samsung Galaxy app store (SGA store).
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September 28, 2026
Section 84.1 of the Income Tax Act, the intergenerational transfer rules, has since 2024 contained a working exception for sales of a private company to a child’s corporation. Paragraph 84.1(2)(e) deems the vendor and the purchaser corporation to deal at arm’s length where the conditions of either ss. 84.1(2.31) or (2.32) are met, which switches off the deemed dividend and leaves the vendor with a capital gain eligible for the lifetime capital gains exemption — $1,275,000 for 2026. The conditions are not tax conditions. They are a statutory description of a vendor who has left the business, and the vendor’s counsel, not the accountant, is the one who has to make the client match it.
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September 28, 2026
The United States has launched tariffs under the Trump regime, and possibly future regimes, to counteract its decline as the world’s leading superpower. These tariffs impact valuation of any business engaged in global trade. To value such businesses, one must consider where the business operates, and whether that jurisdiction adjusted (i.e., Australia or Ireland, etc.), complied or negotiated a deal (i.e., the EU, Japan, U.K. and others), or retaliated (i.e., China or Canada).
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September 25, 2026
As part of the federal government's Women Entrepreneurship Strategy (WES), Ottawa is inviting proposals for a project called the WES Ecosystem Fund.
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September 25, 2026
Barry Anthony Cullain owned one-third of an Ontario elevator maintenance business and was its vice-president of operations. The other two shareholders each held a third. While an acquisition financing was closing, they proposed to buy his shares. The financing failed. They took him off the payroll and said he had retired.
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September 25, 2026
Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté is thinking about what life after the bench might look like, she tells Law360 Canada. The court’s impactful and most prolific judge, who turned 68 this week with no apparent loss of drive or energy, says she is healthy and still loves the work that has earned her a reputation as a trailblazer and original thinker.
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September 25, 2026
In Punjwani v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2026 FC 1033, the Federal Court addressed a recurring analytical error in Start-Up Visa cases: treating the qualifying-business requirements in s. 98.06 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, SOR/2002-227 (IRPR), as though they answered an artificial-transaction finding under paragraph 89(b). They do not. The provisions impose different requirements, and an argument directed to one may fail to address a refusal under the other.
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September 23, 2026
Michelle Kropp and Will Russell have joined Sport Law as partners in Toronto.
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September 23, 2026
Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner says Canada’s independent justice system and perspective on confronting global threats to the rule of law has attracted interest abroad. Speaking Sept. 22 at a Newfoundland and Labrador law society event in St. John’s, Chief Justice Wagner told local lawyers and those online that he was the only non-European court leader invited to attend the meeting in Cyprus last June of the Network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the 27-member European Union (EU).
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September 23, 2026
Ontario’s Arbitration Act represents one of many efforts by the state to delegate the adjudicative function to non-judicial decision-makers.
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September 23, 2026
Since March 26, 2026, every reporting entity under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act must under the new s. 9.6(1.1) “ensure that the program is reasonably designed, risk-based and effective.” Its schedule entry is a very serious violation with a $20 million per violation ceiling for an entity ($4 million for a person). Little has been written about what s. 9.6(1.1) actually adds: an express program-level performance standard.
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September 23, 2026
In 1171757 Ontario Limited et al. v. 1171758 Ontario Limited et al., 2026 ONSC 4414, the Superior Court of Justice applied the rules of contractual interpretation to hold that a shareholder of a corporate partner qualified as a “party” to a partnership agreement, even if he is not a principal under that corporation, or has ceded controlling power to his partner by way of a power of attorney (POA).
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September 22, 2026
There are plenty of obvious lessons from the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers. But one lesson should matter to every professional athlete: when a serious investigation begins, your lawyer can quickly become the most important member of your off-court team.
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September 22, 2026
In mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, there is a constant struggle between the vendor and purchaser regarding risk allocation. This tension often arises from uncertainty regarding future performance, issues identified during due diligence and disagreements regarding value. One common mechanism for bridging that gap is an earnout, which makes part of the purchase price contingent on the post-closing performance of the target business.