The Complete Brief
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June 24, 2024
Ontario anti-SLAPP law has strayed too far away from its original intention, lawyer says
Ontario’s top court has overturned a decision that dismissed a man’s defamation case as a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP, but a legal expert is saying the ruling once again demonstrates the failings of the province’s current anti-SLAPP legislation.
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June 24, 2024
Earthco Soil Mixtures Inc. v. Pine Valley Enterprises Inc.: Interpreting exclusion clauses, part two
Last article, we provided the background regarding Earthco, a case regarding express agreements Earthco Soil Mixtures Inc. v. Pine Valley Enterprises Inc., [2024] S.C.J. No. 20. In today’s article, we discuss the litigation history and Supreme Court of Canada Decision.
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June 24, 2024
Big Law does it better | Murray Gottheil
I am willing to bet that you did not expect that headline from me. And to be fair, I do not intend it as a general statement. What I am going to talk about is legal research, and it is a fact that Big Law does that better than the rest of us. While Big Law (and occasionally Medium Law) employs specialists to do their research, the rest of us either do it ourselves or give the job to articling students, summer students, or junior lawyers.
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June 21, 2024
Public school boards are bound by Charter; tribunals’ Charter rulings reviewed for correctness: SCC
In an important Charter and standard of review case, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that labour arbitrators and other administrative tribunals “should play a primary role” in deciding Charter issues within their bailiwicks — which Charter determinations courts should review on a “correctness” rather than “reasonableness” standard — and that the Charter applies to Ontario public school boards, thereby protecting board employees’ reasonable expectations of privacy in their workplaces and shielding employees from unreasonable search or seizure by their employers.
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June 21, 2024
Feds ban foreign students from ‘flagpoling’ at border to bypass work permit wait times
The federal government has announced that foreign nationals will no longer be allowed to apply for post-graduation work permits (PGWP) at the border, according to a release by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).
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June 21, 2024
Ontario Court overturns finding that company directors were personally liable in property dispute
The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a finding that the directors of two companies were personally liable for the proceeds of the sale of a property that was the subject of a joint venture dispute.
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June 21, 2024
Court of Appeal rules $730K business debt for pipeline cleanup not covered by B.C. environmental law
The British Columbia Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal in a ruling that found that the lower court judge erred in determining that a creditor’s recovery claim for environmental remediation work related to a pipeline spill involved issues to be tried, rather finding that there was no cause of action.
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June 21, 2024
Canada imposes sanctions on three Haitian gang leaders
The federal government has announced sanctions targeting three Haitian gang leaders in response to continuing chaos in the Caribbean country.
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June 21, 2024
Tax implications of Canadians selling U.S. property under Foreign Investment in Real Property Act
The real estate market is heating up again in some areas of the United States, and Canadians may be interested in selling, particularly in time for changes in the capital gains rates in Canada. There are tax consequences for doing this, which need to be understood. We will assume in our examples that the individual is a Canadian tax resident and all dollars are at par.
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June 21, 2024
The Friday Brief: Managing Editor’s must-read items from this week
Here are my picks for the top stories we published this week.