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This article provides a brief overview of recent developments in Canadian Tax Law.

On July 14, 2008, the Department of Finance ("Finance") released proposed amendments to the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act") to facilitate the conversion of existing income trusts, REITs and other public flow-through entities into corporations on a tax-deferred basis (the "Conversion Rules").

On May 17, 2007, Northstar Healthcare Inc. completed the first Canadian initial public offering of high dividend common shares by a U.S. business. Listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Northstar was formed to indirectly acquire and/or manage ambulatory surgery centres in the United States, focusing initially on Houston and other metropolitan areas in Texas.

Effective April 22, 2005, the SME Growth Stock Plan replacing the former Québec Stock Savings Plan (QSSP) came into force to promote the financing of businesses in the growth and expansion phases.

NI 81-107 aims at improving fund governance by requiring investment funds to establish Independent Review Committees.

A highly significant development for Ontario’s capital markets will take place on December 31, 2005, when a new liability-for-disclosure regime comes into force.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced plans to seek private investment through long-term concessions to operate Canada's four largest airports: Toronto Pearson, Vancouver, Montréal-Trudeau and Calgary. While the government would retain ownership of underlying land and assets, this represents a fundamental shift from the current not-for-profit airport authority model that has governed these facilities since the 1990s.

Following the collapse of the Emerge Canada Inc. (Emerge) ETF business, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has started enforcement proceedings against its manager...

On January 12, 2007 the Canadian Securities Administrators (the "CSA") published Staff Notice 81-316 – Hedge Funds (the "Notice"), which sets out the results of a review by the CSA of the hedge fund sector (including principal protected notes) and outlines some general concerns and courses of action which the CSA intend to pursue with respect to these products and the manner in which they are distributed.

The global secondaries market has experienced explosive growth, with evergreen funds now commanding 41% of the $113 billion raised in 2025. These perpetual capital vehicles are fundamentally altering competitive dynamics, pricing expectations, and strategic considerations for both fund sponsors and institutional investors.

Resolving commercial disputes efficiently is vital in the modern business world. Until relatively recently, the burden of doing so fell on those national court systems that seemed to capture the bulk of such disputes. But economic liberalisation and technological change have been altering the global economy. In particular, business has responded to the fall of trade barriers by expanding abroad and forging cross-border partnerships and joint ventures of every description.

National Instrument 24-101 – Institutional trade matching and settlement (Instrument), which came into force on April 1, 2007, represents the first step in an initiative to implement straight-through processing (STP) for institutional trades.

On June 11, 2008, new regulations entitled Principal Protected Notes Regulations (the “New Regulations”) under the Bank Act (Canada) (the “Bank Act”) regarding principal protected notes (“PPNs”) were published which will become effective July 1st, 2008.

Over the past several years, the Canadian public market landscape has been strongly influenced by an ever-increasing number of corporate enterprises converting themselves into "income trusts". Yesterday, the Department of Finance announced measures in an effort to address the Canadian government's growing concern with the potential loss of tax revenue arising from the use of these trust structures and other types of flow-through entities.

On December 19, 2008, the Toronto Stock Exchange began permitting Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, commonly known as SPACs.

On November 25, 2011, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published for comment proposed amendments to the rules related to "pre-marketing" and "marketing" activities in connection with prospectus offerings (the Proposals).

Ontario’s Bulk Sales Act poses a challenge to investors who want to acquire an Ontario business.