Tax
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October 09, 2025
The horrors of homemade wills: When good intentions go bad
It’s a story estate lawyers know all too well: someone decides to “save a few bucks” by writing their own will — only for the family to end up spending thousands in legal fees after their death. While homemade wills might seem like a simple solution, the reality is far more complicated. The law sets out strict requirements for how a will must be made, and even the smallest misstep can leave your loved ones in legal limbo.
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October 09, 2025
Theme of World Day Against Death Penalty 2025: Use of death penalty as tool to oppress
This Friday marks the 23rd World Day Against the Death Penalty. On this day, abolitionists around the world call on governments that retain the practice to abolish capital punishment. We also use the day to draw attention to individual cases of those facing execution and plead for clemency, commutation or a reconsideration of the case altogether. A theme this year in the cases we are highlighting is the use of the death penalty as a tool to oppress.
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October 08, 2025
Fraser calls provinces’ demand to scrap Ottawa’s SCC arguments on notwithstanding clause ‘untenable’
Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser has pushed back against the demands of five premiers that Ottawa should drop its novel arguments at the Supreme Court that there are substantive constraints on governments’ powers to invoke the Charter’s s. 33 “notwithstanding” clause — arguments that those five provinces contend “represent a complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain that brought the Charter into being” in 1982.
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October 08, 2025
Troy McEachren joins McCarthy Tétrault’s tax group
McCarthy Tétrault has announced that Troy McEachren has joined the firm as a partner in its national tax group in Montreal.
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October 07, 2025
Attorney General Sean Fraser tells SCC the law needs to protect people with ‘no voice’
There was a celebratory mood at the opening ceremony for the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2025-26 court year, but Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser and other legal leaders delivered a sober message to the Ottawa courtroom packed with lawyers and judges.
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October 07, 2025
Lawyer ordered to pay costs for non-disclosure of gen AI use and citing fake precedents in court
In a cautionary case for litigation lawyers who use generative artificial intelligence (AI) for court submissions, a Federal Court associate judge recently hit an immigration lawyer with personal costs for submitting two defective AI-generated precedents and for breaching the Federal Court’s requirement to disclose any generative AI use in court filings.
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October 06, 2025
Canada announces move to fall budget cycle
Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne has announced a new capital budgeting framework that aims to better position Canada to build homes, infrastructure and industries by shifting to a fall budget cycle.
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October 06, 2025
‘Systemically oppressive’ income tax rules give the CRA tools not available to police
The federal government is often criticized for not being tough enough on crime. However, there is little discussion about recent efforts to increase scrutiny on taxpayers. The criminal defence bar in Canada remains highly aware of potential abuses and rights violations when police interrogate their clients. Are Canadian businesspeople just as concerned about safeguarding their constitutional rights?
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October 02, 2025
Court rules Husky Energy failed to withhold required tax on $329M non-resident dividend
The Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a finding that Husky Energy improperly failed to withhold 25 per cent of nearly $329 million in dividends paid to Luxembourg corporations, finding that they were temporary custodians for the majority shareholders.
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October 02, 2025
Line crossed: IRCC’s proposed administrative monetary penalties should alarm all Canadian bars
The federal government is quietly implementing a regulatory framework that should alarm every lawyer in Canada, regardless of practice area. Under the guise of addressing immigration “ghost consultants,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has crafted administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) that grant it unprecedented authority to discipline lawyers — the same lawyers who routinely challenge that department’s decisions in court.