Tax
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November 19, 2024
Feds announce consultations on housing financialization, ending GST on new student residences
The federal government has launched consultations on “confronting the financialization of housing” and on removing GST on the construction of new student residences to incentivize the building of more student housing and ease rental housing pressures for students.
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November 18, 2024
CRIMINAL INJURY COMPENSATION - Calculation of award - Compensation boards and programs - Powers
Appeal by Malik from Court of King's Bench Chambers decision dismissing his judicial review application from the Victim’s Compensation Appeal Committee's denial of additional compensation for lost wages. Malik was a victim of a violent assault and robbery in Saskatoon that left him with a broken hip. At the time, Malik worked as a taxi driver for the company "riide", driving a cab owned by a third party.
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November 18, 2024
Why digital legacy planning should now be part of every estate plan
We’ve all seen the Facebook profiles of departed friends that appear on our timelines, floating by like digital zombies. Although social media platforms like Facebook have introduced procedures such as memorialization and legacy contact to manage the accounts of deceased or incapacitated users, many remain in cyber-limbo due to a lack of a proactive digital legacy plan, as any estate planning lawyer will tell you.
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November 15, 2024
AI in the courtroom: Canadian Judicial Council’s new guidelines
With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Canadian courts are under increasing pressure to address its impact. While some view AI as a possible threat to the rule of law and democracy within Canada’s justice system, AI also holds promise for enhancing court operations, reducing workloads, supporting judicial functions and improving access to justice.
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November 14, 2024
Removal of untranslated English decisions on website won’t end novel lawsuit against SCC: plaintiff
The Supreme Court of Canada’s removal of thousands of pre-1970 (mostly unilingual-English) judgments from its website won’t end an unprecedented Federal Court lawsuit that aims to compel the top court’s registry to fix alleged violations of the Official Languages Act by translating the court’s unilingual decisions into the other official language, says the plaintiff language rights group Droits collectifs Québec.
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November 11, 2024
Estate freezes and resulting litigation issues
In my recent article “Estate freezes: An icebreaker,” I discussed how an estate freeze can be used to “lock in” the value of a family business’ shares at a given point in time and pass on the growth of that business to the business owner’s children. I briefly touched on some of the potential pitfalls that can complicate the execution and maintenance of an estate freeze. One of these complications — and the source of much of the litigation surrounding estate freezes — is the availability of the oppression remedy to the company’s shareholders.
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November 08, 2024
SCC elaborates on framework, scope for judicial review of regs and other subordinate legislation
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that the Vavilov “reasonableness” standard for judicial review — informed by some of the Katz Group principles — presumptively applies when courts review whether subordinate legislation is authorized by law.
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November 08, 2024
JUDICIAL REVIEW AND STATUTORY APPEAL - Standard of review - Reasonableness
Appeal by appellants from a judgment of the Alberta Court of Appeal which affirmed a decision dismissing their application for judicial review. The appellants were owners of coal-fired electrical power generation facilities. They entered into off-coal agreements with the respondent, the Province of Alberta (Province), to eventually cease coal-fired emissions by 2030 in exchange for substantial sums paid annually by the Province to compensate for the loss of value arising from the reduced life of the appellants' facilities. .
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November 08, 2024
Are long-term disability payments taxable?
There can be a tax liability with long-term disability payments, and if an individual is forced to rely on long-term disability (LTD) insurance as an income replacement after an injury or disability, they may wonder if those payments are taxable. The answer depends on several factors.
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November 05, 2024
New counsel joins Gowling WLG
A recent news release from Gowling WLG announced the addition of John Campbell as counsel in the firm’s Toronto tax group.