Quebec Is Different - White Birch Court Finds That Indalex Does Not Apply In Quebec*

A year after the uncertainty created in the Canadian corporate debt financing world by the Ontario Court of Appeal's pensions-friendly decision in the Indalex CCAA restructuring matter², the Quebec Superior Court, in April 2012, determined in a lengthy and well-reasoned decision that the key restructuring and pensions law principles underpinning Indalex do not apply in Quebec when considering the treatment of defined benefit amortization payment and deficit claims in a restructuring.

In sum, the Court in White Birch noted that in Quebec - unlike in Ontario (at least as decided by the Court of Appeal in Indalex):

• there are no fiduciary duties owed by the company (or its directors) toward pension plan beneficiaries. Quebec supplemental pension plans are administered by a separate body, so must be considered in this different context;