Karen Gardiner appointed to the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement Nova Scotia

Understanding the taxation of Indigenous Peoples’ governments and structuring of their economic development initiatives is more relevant than…

Disputes between shareholders of a corporation, and shareholders and their corporation, are stressful and complicated, and often attract…

The nature of the construction industry, especially when it comes to seasonal work and where the labour needs and costs must be estimated in…

Canadian provinces and territories continue to swiftly legislate prompt payment requirements – though not all are taking effect quite so…

On October 13, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its judicial reference opinion: a significant portion of Canada’s federal…

Updated February 9, 2024. On December 15, 2023, Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, became law, giving developers of…

There’s a new scam on the web: Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) scams. Most are familiar with established scams like phishing and ransomware and…

Owning your own business offers many opportunities. But it also carries inherent risks, including exposure to personal liability. These three…

Effective June 23, 2023, Section 45(1.1) of the Competition Act makes it a criminal offence for all unaffiliated employers to enter into…

The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has made it clear that, while the burden is high, pre-emptively vacating or discharging a builders’ lien is a…

Updated Feburary 9, 2024. On January 1, 2023, the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act and accompanying…

All businesses need written contracts. Determining what written contracts are essential depends on many factors, including the nature of the…

Updated July 7, 2023. Bill 24 An Act to Amend the Business Corporations Act effected significant amendments to the New Brunswick Business…

Finally closing on October 27, 2022, the tumultuous Elon Musk/Twitter M&A deal drama has been unfolding for months, with both sides making…

On May 22, 2010 (affectionately known as “Bitcoin Pizza Day”), a Floridian bought two Papa John's pizzas with Bitcoin. The day is famous…

On April 14, 2022, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal released its decision in Royal Bank of Canada v. Estate of Susan Lynn Williams, revisiting…

If you’ve reached the stage in your financing lifecycle where you’re ready to take your company public, you might think you’ve only got…

On April 1, 2022, changes to the Newfoundland and Labrador Corporations Act proposed in Bill 24 An Act to Amend the Corporations Act will take…

More and more people are using smart contracts: the global smart contracts market was valued at USD $145M in 2020; it’s projected to be valued…

To help realtors better prepare their clients to ensure smooth real estate transactions with timely closings, here are the answers to the 10…

Updated February 28, 2024. The New Brunswick Construction Remedies Act substantially came into effect on November 1, 2021, and took full…

On July 28, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a decision protecting the status of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) as a…

Many employers use equity compensation plans like employee stock option plans to attract, motivate, and retain talent. One reason stock options…

Merger and acquisition deals are still happening across all sectors, perhaps at an even higher rate than pre-COVID-19 pandemic, even if the…

The Supreme Court of Canada continues to develop and clarify the organizing principle of good faith performance in contract law. In its 2014…

In the first update to the CCDC 2 since 2008, in December 2020 the Canadian Construction Documents Committee (CCDC) published the CCDC 2 (2020).…

The Supreme Court of Canada, in the 2014 case of Bhasin v. Hrynew, recognized a general organizing principle of good faith performance in…

An economic downturn can result in an M&A uptick: there can be more attractive targets on the market, and sellers can be more motivated to…

We updated this publication on July 11, 2023. Spurred by the COVID-19 Pandemic and bricks-and-mortar closures, businesses – from SMEs to…

On October 2, 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the existence and application of the anti-deprivation rule in Canadian bankruptcy law.…

Updated November 21, 2024. The rapid adoption of ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) principles and the growth of mandatory disclosure…

The financial technology (Fintech) industry uses technology to support and enhance financial and banking services.

McInnes Cooper partner Michael Melvin and Student-at-Law Myriam Whalen provide a detailed Legal Digest in the Spring 2020 Edition of The…

The Supreme Court of Canada recently released a much-awaited decision regarding the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). The CCAA is…

Business corporations laws and stock exchange policies mandate that issuers hold annual general meetings (AGM) and set requirements for when and…

The global COVID-19 (a.k.a. Coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2) outbreak has implications for many commercial relationships, its evolving nature and…

Canada’s construction industry is abuzz with the latest innovation in lien legislation. Prompt payment requirements are being added to…

NOTE: The new tax rules for employee stock option plans take effect on July 1, 2021. Learn more at Limited Options: New Employee Stock Option…

All issuers must comply with both periodic and ongoing securities law corporate governance (and other) disclosure requirements. This can,…

Information disclosure is a key theme that emerges from Canada’s new cannabis regulatory regime: the government wants lots of information from…

Updated July 10, 2024. If you “own” a company incorporated under either the Canada Business Corporations Act or under the corporate…

The growing global population is feeding global demand for seafood. Growing demand is likely to drive investment, particularly mergers and…

Companies engaged in the cannabis supply chain are highly regulated by federal and provincial cannabis-specific laws as well as a myriad of…

Updated January 26, 2023. Prince Edward Island corporations were formerly governed by the P.E.I. Companies Act – legislation that was…

This publication has been updated as at July 8, 2022. Changes to the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA) over the past several years have…

Equity compensation plans are a valuable and versatile tool for many corporations, from early-stage startups to established blue-chips.…

Whether a provincial court will grant police a “production order” under the Criminal Code of Canada requiring a non-Canadian company to…

Blockchain technology has already been a transformative force in a number of sectors. Its most prominent use to date has been as the…

It’s official: as of October 31, 2017, “facilitation payments” contravene Canada’s Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA).…

On October 27, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that a bank that pays out on a fraudulent cheque has the protection of section 20(5)…

Canada’s most important trading relationship is – in all likelihood – about to change: the current U.S. administration has put the future…

Recently, the Federal Court of Appeal confirmed that a tax debtor’s bankruptcy does not extinguish the federal Crown’s priority to proceeds…

In the not-so-distant past, Canadian enforcement of its anti-corruption and anti-bribery legal regime has been relatively laid-back. But the…

A corporation does not always sail in calm or safe waters. Cash shortages, unattainable or unmet goals, Board disagreements over the best course…

When growing your business, you face many decisions, including choosing the business structure that is right for you. Your legal team can be…

On June 28, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed a Canadian court can issue an interlocutory injunction (an order requiring an entity or…

On June 23, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that in a contest between the choice of forum clause in Facebook’s online terms of use…

The Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act is one of several anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws aimed at fighting corruption in the…

In three years (lightning speed in the law), medically assisted dying went from being illegal to being legal. A great deal has changed, a great…

On April 13, 2017, Canada’s federal government introduced legislation that, if passed into law, will legalize recreational cannabis in Canada.…

Recreational cannabis isn’t legal yet - but much of the associated stigma is already gone, usage is up and employers are feeling the workplace…

Social media platforms, like Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook and GooglePlus, arguably have more followers and are more closely…

Updated January 29, 2024. Most organizations (72%) store the personal information of customers. employees, suppliers, vendors or partners,…

Doing business with the public sector creates an often overlooked – but very real – risk that the confidential information a business…

Connections between Canadians and the U.S. have never been as numerous or transparent as they are now: many Canadians own U.S. property, have…

On November 17, 2016 the Supreme Court of Canada decided a mortgagee has the mortgagor’s implied consent to disclose its discharge statement…

Canada’s most important trading relationship might undergo some change with the results of the 2016 U.S. election. Facilitating cross-border…

Updated August 19, 2024. All shareholders – whether in a startup, a small or large business or a family-owned business – can benefit from…

On September 9, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada decided in Musqueam Indian Band v. Musqueam Indian Band (Board of Review) that an Indian band…

Updated January 27, 2023. A key legal decision in starting or growing your business is choosing the business structure that’s right for…

The condo real estate market, both retail and commercial, is hot. But condo developers and unit buyers need funding. Here’s the legal…

Real estate vendors and purchasers have high expectations of their realtors – and they don’t often hesitate to pursue legal action against…

In its June 16, 2016 decision in Rogers Communications Inc. v. Châteauguay (City), the Supreme Court of Canada decided a municipality’s…

You’re on a tight timeline to issue a press release. You finish your draft and ‘cut & paste’ your standard “forward-looking…

This publication has been updated as at April 18, 2022. Access to sufficient capital is always a business issue, from the startup stage right…

On May 6, 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada generally affirmed the common law rule that positive covenants do not run with the land. More…

Updated October 4, 2023. Workplace accidents regularly lead to charges under occupational health and safety (OHS) law. These charges can be…

When a business responds to a public sector Request for Proposal or Expression of Interest (both of which we’ll refer to as an RFP for these…

On January 11, 2016, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice sentenced a front-line supervisor to imprisonment for 3½ years for four counts of…

Updated October 4, 2023. Most people know a company itself has occupational health and safety (OHS) obligations and risks corporate liability…

We updated this publication on July 21, 2022. Every party to a Right of Way has some idea of what that Right of Way is – but many times,…

The market for the sale and the supply of goods is a global one for many businesses in today’s economy. Both exporting goods from Canada and…

Hindsight is 20/20. Lawyers can’t always predict the outcome of a legal claim. But when a dispute between an investment client and their…

Snow can be a big nuisance at this time of year, but snow load - the weight of the snow, usually measured in pounds per square foot - can be…

“Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) as a concept has been floating around in business-speak for years – but stakeholders in the mining…

The construction industry - project owners, contractors, subcontractors and trades - might be relaxing, ignoring the hype around Canada’s…

On November 13, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) effected a significant development in Canadian contract law by recognizing the…

Updated August 25, 2022. Many believe that only public companies or large, established companies with many shareholders need to be concerned…

Most Canadians have heard about Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL): we’ve been bombarded with “CASL Compliant” emails asking us to…

Lenders are often faced with a situation where a customer (Borrower) approaches them for funds to complete an acquisition of the shares of a…

Updated June 5, 2024. A general security agreement (GSA) is the most common form of personal property security to secure commercial loans and…