On July 8, 2020, Bill 161, the Smarter and Stronger Justice
Act, 2020, received Royal Assent. As
we
discussed previously, Bill 161 makes a number
of amendments to Ontario's Class Proceedings Act,
1992(CPA), including the introduction of
a more rigorous certification test, improved coordination of
multi-jurisdictional class actions, a mechanism to dismiss dormant
proceedings, and other procedural changes.
Significant changes in Bill 161 to the Ontario class actions
regime are described below.
A More Rigorous Certification Test
The amendments include a new subsection 5(1.1) that creates a
more detailed and onerous standard for satisfying the
"preferable procedure" prong of the certification
test:
