News & Publications Archive

Employers and employees in B.C. will soon benefit from a long-awaited and wide-ranging overhaul to the Pensions Benefits Standards Act (PBSA).

Ken Burns is quoted in The Vancouver Sun article "Pension law changes
add flexibility, consumer protection" published on June 8, 2012.

On January 23, 2012 Alberta’s Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) issued Bulletin 2012-02 entitled Hydraulic Fracturing: Inter-wellbore Communication between Energy Wells to provide guidance to operators using hydraulic fracturing in horizontal wells. The ERCB confirmed its expectation that operators maintain well control at all times so as not to impact the environment, public safety, or resource recovery, and to prevent adverse effects on offsetting wellbores. Industry was also reminded of its obligation to plan safe and effective hydraulic fracturing operations.

Mandeep Dhaliwal is quoted in the Business in Vancouver article "Surrey condo marketers feel the heat:", published on June 5, 2012.

Craig Ferris' article "Rescinding a pre-sale" appears in the June 2012 issue of Western Investor.

Kinji Bourchier was a guest on CBC's The Early Edition show on May 30, 2012 where he spoke about the team of Vancouver lawyers taking part in the MUNDIAVOCAT; the Football World Cup for Lawyers in Rovinj, Croatia.

This is the first of two blog posts on the statutory powers of investigation and inspection granted under the federal Fisheries Act, examined through the lens of a recent series of cases beginning with R v Mission Western Developments Ltd., 2010 BCPC 274, involving a property developer charged with harmful alteration of fish habitat contrary to section 35 of the Fisheries Act. The topic is an important one because the constitutionality of an investigation or inspection will depend on whether a Fisheries Officer has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that a breach of the Act has occurred. Briefly, an investigation occurs where a regulator is trying to gather evidence in support of a prosecution, and an inspection occurs where a regulator is seeking to monitor general compliance without the predominant purpose of collecting incriminating evidence. Investigations require a warrant under section 49.1 of the Fisheries Act; inspections under section 49 do not.

Read more here.  

Brad Armstrong, Q.C.'s article, "Bill streamlines environmental act", appears in the May 24th, 2012 edition of The Vancouver Sun. The article looks at the proposed new Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Toby Kruger has written "Facebook Defamation Case Heard by the Supreme Court of Canada" for the Western Canada Business Litigation Blog.

In May, 2008, the Beaver Lake Cree Nation (“BLCN”) filed a lawsuit in the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench against the governments of Canada and Alberta (Lameman v. Alberta) claiming that the cumulative impacts of development within their core traditional territory had left them with no meaningful way to exercise their treaty rights. BLCN is a Treaty 6 First Nation whose asserted traditional territory stretches across east central Alberta through the in situ oil sands area and the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.

In a recent contest before the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board between the operator of a natural gas storage reservoir and a producer seeking to drill and frack a Basal Quartz vertical oil well in the vicinity of the storage reservoir, the ERCB granted the producer its well licence, subject to conditions. While not specifically addressing any of the potential issues relating to hydraulic fracturing in tight oil reservoirs, there are interesting and useful inferences that can be drawn from the ERCB’s approach to an adjoining mineral owner’s objection to a fracking operation.

Rita Andreone is quoted in The Lawyers Weekly In-house Counsel article, "Working on the High Wire" published in the Spring 2012 issue.

Keith Bergner is quoted in the article "Gaining Native Buy-in On Projects A Challenge, CERI Conference Told", published in the April 26, 2012 issue of The Daily Oil Bulletin.

On April 17, 2012 the federal government announced its Plan For Responsible Resource Development, setting out further details on steps to implement proposals for streamlining the federal environmental assessment (“EA”) process. This Plan follows on the heels of the federal budget and the Statutory Review of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, which both suggested that these streamlining reforms would be forthcoming.

Rita Andreone is quoted in The Financial Post article, "First Jobs" on April 18, 2012.

On March 29, 2012, Canadian Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered the government’s 2012 federal budget (the “Budget”). As is typical in Canada, the Budget contained interesting tax policy changes. This article briefly highlights the three most important proposed changes to the thin-cap rules that apply to in-bound Canadian investments.

Marko Vesely is quoted in The Vancouver Sun articles "Facebook vows to fight B.C. privacy lawsuit", published on April 6, 2012. He is also quoted in the paper's Digital Life blog post, "Canadian lawsuits take on Facebook over using members' names, photos in 'sponsored stories'", published on April 3, 2012.

Lisa Chamzuk's response to "What should pension plan fiduciaries in B.C. know about the Wills, Estates and Succession Act?", appears in the March 2012 Your Say | Benefits Canada issue.

Chris Baldwin is quoted in The Financial Post article, "Chambers: Canadian mining lawyers are on a roll" published on March 24, 2012.

On March 13, 2012, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development issued recommendations for improving the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) process.

This paper reviews the basic features of Employee Life and Health Trusts (ELHT), considers  the most recent statements of the CRA and compares the tax and other advantages and disadvantages of using an ELHT versus a Health and Welfare Trust (HWT).

This article provides a brief overview of the taxes incurred by a corporation subject to tax in Canada.

Keith Bergner is quoted in The Financial Post article, "PDAC 2012: Native law a growing field", published in the March 6, 2012 issue.

Marko Vesely is quoted in the article, "Vancouver’s dating website PlentyofFish.com sued over photo of dead US soldier", published in The Vancouver Sun's Digital Life blog post on February 29, 2012.

Ed Wilson discusses changes to the B.C. Strata Property Act which come into effect March 13, 2012 in the Business in Vancouver article "Tough Love for Stratas", published in the February 14-20 2012 issue of the paper.

In the recent decision the Court of Appeal for British Columbia held that an employee who quit his job after being given working notice of termination of employment was nevertheless entitled to sue for damages for wrongful dismissal for the period of reasonable notice in excess of the notice given.

This paper aims to shine a light on moderately to highly structured limited partnership investments (or, sometimes, a limited liability company or corporate investment vehicle), where the investment target is often in an indirect subsidiary or portfolio company one or more levels below.

This paper covers the burden of proof and equity in British Columbia and several recent cases on assessment and taxation principles (including the just-released decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Catalyst Paper Corporation’s challenge of municipal tax rates).

On November 15, 2011, the Supreme Court of Yukon released its decision in Ross River Dena Council v. Government of Yukon, 2011 YKSC 84. The case is important as it is the first court decision to consider the issue of whether the Government of Yukon has a duty to consult with First Nations when recording quartz mineral claims under the Quartz Mining Act (the “Act”).  It is also somewhat unique as the recording of a quartz mineral claim by the Mining Recorder is not a discretionary act under the “free entry” system established by the Act.

This article, published in the December 2011 issue of Small Business Profit Guide, discusses employee privacy rights for information stored on work computers and the importance of adopting a well-conceived policy on computer usage.

The best way to protect your company from being found in violation of employee privacy is to adopt a well-conceived policy on computer usage and enforce it consistently.

Ken Burns discusses defined contribution and defined-benefit pension plans in the Business in Vancouver article "Devaluing retirement dreams", published in the November 29 - December 5, 2011 issue of the paper.

Valerie Mann discusses reverse break fees in the article, "Breaking up is hard (and expensive) to do", published in the November 22, 2011 issue of Business in Vancouver.

This paper examines the scope of a regulator’s authority to conduct inspections and investigations across a number of common regulatory contexts.

Keith Bergner is quoted in The Vancouver Sun article, "Certainty still a question in land rights and resource development", published on November 12, 2011.

The following articles can be found in this bulletin:

* Welcome back Deborah Cushing
* Insubordination and Just Cause Dismissal: Considerations for Employers
* British Columbia's Minimum Wage Increased on November 1, 2011
* Proposed Amendments to the Workers Compensation Act - Mental Stress
* Temporary Foreign Workers - Meeting the "Substantially the Same" Requirement

The IRS has today released proposed amendments to the Code Section 892 regulations. Code Section 892 is the provision within the Internal Revenue Code that exempts foreign sovereigns from taxation in respect of investment income earned in the U.S. The primary amendments are described in this article.

Canada is uniquely positioned to provide an abundance of secure and reliable energy. With conventional oil supply declining, the need for unconventional resources, like oil sands and shale gas, will increase. Alberta and British Columbia, Canada’s two western-most provinces, house the vast majority of Canada’s oil and natural gas deposits, making both provinces key players in the push to develop resources sufficient to meet growing energy demand in North America and beyond.

On October 19, 2011, Marko Vesely appeared on CKNW's The Simi Sara Show to discuss the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision on whether hyperlinking to defamatory material on a website constitutes publication of the defamatory content.

Entity classification refers to a set of rules used in the U.S. tax system to classify entities for the purposes of the Internal Revenue Code. Once classified, the entity will either be subject to the Code rules for corporations or the Code rules for partnerships.

On September 21, 2011, Marko Vesely appeared on CKNW's The Simi Sara Show to discuss a recent court ruling that a website's terms of use is a contract between the website visitor and the website owner, even if visitors are not asked to explicitly accept the terms of use.

Rob Sider discusses some of the differences in the termination of employment in Canada and the USA in The Financial Post article, "Don't lump Canada in with U.S., buyers told", published on September 21, 2011.

Marko Vesely in quoted in The Globe and Mail article, "Why reading a website’s fine print matters", published on September 21, 2011. In the article, Marko discusses a recent ruling on whether a website’s fine print can be enforced, even if users are not asked to explicitly accept the terms of use.

This paper discusses contract law issues including decisions of relevance to commercial lawyers and business leaders giving a snapshot of particular principles of interest that arose in case law over the past 12 months.

Marko Vesely is quoted in the article, "BC Supreme Court orders Zoocasa to pay $32,000 to real estate agents for breaching web site’s terms of use", published in The Vancouver Sun on September 13, 2011.

Peter Roberts is quoted in the article "Man's home set to be seized despite acquittal on marijuana charges", published in The Globe and Mail on September 8, 2011.

The organization that controls most of the Internet's gTLD's (generic top level domain names, such as .com and .net) has approved the use of .xxx as a new gTLD. That has a number of trade-mark owners worried about the potential for reputational risk or damage to goodwill with the registration in the .xxx domain of their brands. The .xxx gTLD is for use by those involved in the adult entertainment industry. For everyone else, the thought of a brand being associated with this gTLD is somewhat concerning.

Keith Bergner was quoted in the Daily Oil Bulletin article, "Trans Mountain Westridge Dock Firm Service Now Up To NEB" published on August 31, 2011. 

Two recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada provide significant insight into the nature and purpose of the Crown’s duty to consult with Aboriginal peoples—what it is, and just as importantly, what it is not—and the interplay of the duty with administrative law principles. 

Acting as an escrow agent is a common task of lawyers in British Columbia, especially, the solicitor, as a component of transactions. The duties of an escrow agent are primarily contractual and the escrow agent must carry out the duties accordingly, in a non-negligent fashion and without misconduct. Lawyers must take care not to agree as escrow agent to duties that are in conflict with their duties as counsel, but there are additional considerations.

On August 5, 2011, Ken Burns was interviewed by Michael Campbell on CKNW radio on the subject of pensions.