Bulletins Archives - Blakes Business Class

Important Changes for Third Parties in the Canada Elections Act

April 17, 2019

Recent changes to the Canada Elections Act (Act) will have wide-ranging and important implications for businesses, industry associations, advocacy groups, community groups, unions and other persons who communicate with political parties or campaigns before and during federal elections. The newly introduced restrictions, among other things, include extensive communication, expenditure and collusion prohibitions, which will apply as early as June 30…

Posted by:

Alexis Levine and Maria Nasr

Posted in: Government & Public Sector, Lobbying

2019 Ontario Budget: Gaming Highlights

April 12, 2019

On April 11, 2019, the Government of Ontario released its 2019 budget (2019 Budget), which includes several proposals that will impact the gaming landscape in Ontario once implemented. The gaming-related highlights from the 2019 Budget are summarized below. SINGLE-EVENT SPORTS WAGERING As previously indicated by Ontario’s Minister of Finance, Victor Fedeli, the 2019 Budget reaffirms Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government’s commitment…

Posted by:

Bryson Stokes, John Tuzyk and Mike Maodus

Posted in: Gaming

Alert: 2019 Ontario Budget – Electronic Communications and Beneficiary Designations

April 12, 2019

On April 11, 2019, the Ontario government tabled the 2019 Ontario Budget (2019 Budget). The 2019 Budget announced that the government is considering future changes to the Pension Benefits Act to permit pension plans to communicate with plan members electronically as the default method. The 2019 Budget also amends the Insurance Act to clarify the ability of insurers to accept…

Posted in: Pensions, Benefits & Executive Compensation

Broad Changes to CBCA Proposed: Directors’ Duties, Additional Disclosure and Annual Say-on-Pay

April 11, 2019

Significant amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) proposed in the federal government’s omnibus budget implementation bill (Bill) would codify into statute some of the principles relating to directors’ duties set out in the landmark Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) 2008 decision BCE Inc. v. 1976 Debentureholders (BCE). The Bill would also require that certain CBCA corporations develop an…

Posted by:

John Tuzyk, Matthew Merkley and Liam Churchill

Posted in: Capital Markets, Corporate Governance

Quebec Court of Appeal Weighs in on Defences Available to Directors in Unpaid Wages Lawsuit

April 11, 2019

The Quebec Court of Appeal (Court of Appeal) recently addressed the timely and important issue of the scope of the defences available to corporate directors being sued under section 119(2) of the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) in relation to unpaid wages. In Desgagné c. Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (available…

Posted by:

Natalie Bussière and Sarah Chahine

Posted in: Corporate Governance, Employment & Labour

OPC Proposes a Reversal in its Approach to Transfers of Personal Information to Service Providers for Processing

April 10, 2019

On April 9, 2019, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) played a belated April Fools’ joke. They launched a consultation on transborder data flows in which they indicated that they were revisiting their long-held position that a transfer of personal information to a service provider for processing does not require consent from the individual, and now propose…

Posted by:

Wendy Mee

Posted in: Privacy

Supreme Court Enforces Arbitration Clause and Stays Business Customer Claims in Class Action

April 10, 2019

On April 4, 2019, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in TELUS Communications Inc. v. Wellman (Wellman) decided that business customer claims in a class action should be stayed pursuant to arbitration clauses in the standard terms and conditions of those customers’ contracts. It further concluded that the Ontario Arbitration Act did not provide courts with jurisdiction…

Posted by:

Bradley Berg, Max Shapiro and Naiara Toker (Articling Student)

Posted in: Arbitration, Class Actions, Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Working (More Than) 9 to 5: Changes to Ontario Overtime Rules Now in Force

April 4, 2019

Bill 66, Restoring Ontario’s Competitiveness Act, 2018, has received royal assent and is now law. The introduction of Bill 66 was the subject of our December 2018 Blakes Bulletin: Ontario Looks to Roll out More Changes to Workplace Legislation with Bill 66. Below is an overview of the changes that Bill 66 makes to the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA). Eliminating…

Posted by:

Holly Reid

Posted in: Employment & Labour

Lending Market Sets Sights on Sustainability Linked Loans

April 2, 2019

Building on the internationally recognized Green Loan Principles (GLPs) adopted in 2018, the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA), the Loan Market Association (LMA) and the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA) have recently published a set of voluntary global guidelines entitled the Sustainability Linked Loan Principles (SLLPs). The demand for loan products that incentivize improvements in borrowers’ sustainability profiles…

Posted by:

Fabien Lanteri-Massa, Rebecca Dawe and Gregory Morrison (Articling Student)

Posted in: Financial Services, Renewable Energy

Recent Developments in Canadian Competition Law

March 25, 2019

The Competition Bureau (Bureau) recently released updated Abuse of Dominance Enforcement Guidelines (AOD Guidelines), which provide insight into the Bureau’s approach to abuse of dominance matters, and Intellectual Property Enforcement Guidelines (IPEGs) clarifying the Bureau’s approach to conducting investigations of alleged anti-competitive activities that involve intellectual property under the Competition Act (Act). The Bureau also provided an update to its…

Posted in: Competition & Antitrust, Foreign Investment

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