The Complete Brief
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December 12, 2025
Alberta Court of Appeal weighs in on medical privacy
How far does the privacy of medical records restrict police in their investigation of impaired driving? That question was at the heart of a decision recently released by the Alberta Court of Appeal (R. v. Ouellette, 2025 ABCA 340).
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December 12, 2025
WILLS - Variation - Contestation of claims - Adequacy of bequests to dependants
Appeal by Lee Everett Stuart (Lee) from application judge’s decision. Vernon Sanford (Mr. Sanford) passed away. Following his death, two versions of his will were discovered: an unexecuted copy dated 2002, and an executed will, dated May 5, 2006.
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December 12, 2025
How to fix the policy mix that’s killing Canadian productivity
Canada has a productivity crisis. Last year, Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers called Canada’s declining productivity an “emergency,” and the situation has only continued to worsen since.
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December 11, 2025
CRA doubles client responses, completes 100-day Service Improvement Plan
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced it has made significant progress in reducing client wait times and improving its service standards since the launch of its 100-day Service Improvement Plan earlier this year. However, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson noted improvements still need to be made.
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December 11, 2025
Proposed Alberta independence question violates Charter, Indigenous treaty rights: judge
A judge has ruled that a proposed referendum question on Alberta independence is unconstitutional — and has called out the provincial government for proposing a law that would take away the future ability for a court to determine whether such a question would violate Charter rights.
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December 11, 2025
Federal Court of Appeal denies the delisting of appellant from Russian sanctions
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal in a case where the appellant wished to be delisted from a Russian sanctions listing.
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December 11, 2025
Using generative AI in court could add up to penny wise, pound foolish
The rapid advancement of generative artificial intelligence is causing self-represented litigants to use this tool to conduct legal research and build their legal arguments. However, generative AI has not proven to be a panacea for legal research and, in fact, has led both lawyers and self-represented litigants astray with hallucinated cases.
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December 11, 2025
Stay the course or explain the deviation: Reasons required for judicial departure from AFCC-O Guide
The Ontario chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC-O) originally released its Parenting Plan Guide (the AFCC-O Guide) in January 2020, and a revised version in 2021.
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December 11, 2025
Report finds N.B. highways in poor condition, overseers not keeping up
An audit report out of New Brunswick finds almost half of its highways to be in poor condition, and that it recently had the highest per capita highway death rate of all Canadian provinces.
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December 11, 2025
Stewart McKelvey to admit 3 new partners in 2026
Stewart McKelvey will welcome three lawyers to the partnership effective Jan. 1, 2026, according to the Atlantic Canada-based firm.