On December 9, 2019, Ontario's Attorney General introduced
Bill 161, the Smarter and Stronger Justice Act, 2019 to
"simplify a complex and outdated justice system".
Among the omnibus legislative reforms are the first
comprehensive amendments to Ontario's class actions regime
since its introduction in 1993. One of the government's stated
objectives in reforming the Class Proceedings Act (CPA) is
to ensure that "businesses experience fewer financial and
reputational risks"1. We provided a summary of the
significant amendments in an
earlier Torys bulletin. Here we examine whether the
government's proposed changes to the CPA are likely to be
beneficial to defendants; in particular, we consider the proposed
amendments:
