Monthly Tip - August 2016

On October 7, the Government of British Columbia introduced Bill 20 in the B.C. legislature. Bill 20 implements long-anticipated reforms aimed at providing greater payment and cash-flow certainty for stakeholders...

The Government of Canada has announced a two-year extension to an existing ban on foreign ownership of Canadian housing.

Many professionals (accountants, engineers, lawyers, dentists and other health professionals) operate through professional corporations believing this structure protects their personal assets from business liabilities. A recent Alberta Court of King's Bench decision serves as a reminder that this assumption can be wrong, and costly.

Discovering that your rental property has been damaged by a tenant can be a frustrating and costly experience. Landlords often wonder what their rights are and how they can legally recover the costs of repairs.

Starting in 2027, all Ontario project owners with contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, and most owners with contracts dating back to July 1, 2018, must start releasing statutory holdback to their contractors on an annual basis. This requirement is the latest in a series of construction payment reforms under Ontario’s Construction Act. It replaces the traditional model of retaining holdback until substantial performance. Owners and contractors who fail to comply with the notice and payment timelines face exposure to interest claims, payment disputes, and adjudication proceedings.

Since April 1, 2021, residential projects of at least 450 m² (about 5 units or more) in Montréal have been subject to the By-law for a Diverse Metropolis (the BDM).

In KingSett Mortgage Corporation v Lumina Eclipse Limited Partnership, 2026 BCSC 1598, the Supreme Court of British Columbia confirmed that a developer’s failure to disclose material facts...

Dealing with a tenant who refuses to leave your property can be a stressful and frustrating experience. As a landlord, you have responsibilities to your tenant, but you also have rights that protect your property and financial interests

Ontario's housing affordability crisis is intensifying, and one major factor contributing to rising costs is development charges ("DCs"). These fees, essential for financing growth-related infrastructure, are becoming...

Buying a home with friends, a partner, or family in Ontario? Property co-ownership can help buyers pool their down payment and qualify for a mortgage.

Ontario commercial truck drivers with less than two years of heavy-truck experience must now pass a practical road test administered by Quebec's SAAQ before transferring their licence to operate heavy vehicles in the province. This new requirement follows fatal collisions and an Ontario Auditor General audit that exposed significant gaps in training standards and provider oversight. Carriers operating across the border need to factor these requirements into workforce planning, recruitment timelines, and dis

Keeping up with employment law in Canada used to be a marathon. Now, it's a sprint. For employers in Québec, Ontario, and British Columbia, a significant volume of new legislation...

Ontario truck drivers with less than two years of commercial heavy vehicle experience must now pass a practical road test administered by Quebec's SAAQ before exchanging their license to drive commercial heavy vehicles in the province. This new requirement follows a series of collisions involving heavy trucks in Quebec and a May 2026 audit revealing significant gaps in Ontario's training standards and oversight of providers. Carriers operating across the Ontario-Quebec border must now factor these requireme

On September 15, 2026 (“Announcement Day”), the Department of Finance released draft legislative proposals to implement the “Productivity Mega Deduction,” permanent 100% first-year (“immediate”) expensing for a wide range of new or used depreciable property and for Canadian development expenses (“CDE”)...

Canada's federal government has proposed the Productivity Mega Deduction, offering permanent 100% first-year expensing for depreciable property and Canadian development expenses in the mining sector. How will this transformative tax measure reshape investment strategies and project economics for mining companies operating in Canada?

Bill C-12 has fundamentally transformed Canada's anti-money laundering framework by introducing penalties up to forty times higher than previous levels and expanding compliance obligations across the financial sector. The legislation now requires all reporting entities to enroll with FINTRAC and maintain "reasonably designed, risk-based and effective" compliance programs, while imposing cumulative maximum penalties that can reach 3% of global revenue.

With less than two weeks before the October 1, 2026 effective date, British Columbia has paused the planned expansion of Provincial Sales Tax (“PST”) to professional services, a measure many businesses and their advisors had already spent months preparing for.

Foreign companies entering Canada often assume their existing privacy programs designed for GDPR or CCPA compliance can simply extend to Canadian operations, but Canada's legal requirements demand targeted modifications. This comprehensive guide examines Canada's private sector privacy legislation, breach reporting obligations, AI governance expectations, and anti-spam regulations that businesses must navigate before launching in the Canadian market.

The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously struck down a privative clause in the Conflict of Interest Act that attempted to bar judicial review of the Ethics Commissioner's decisions. The ruling establishes that the Constitution guarantees a minimum of legality review over all administrative decisions, with implications extending to labour relations, workers' compensation, and immigration legislation containing similar clauses.

Deepfakes are reaching courts. Learn how a U.S. case dismissed for AI-generated evidence and Canadian authentication rules are changing what litigators must do now.