News & Publications Archive

This paper is intended to be an overview of various issues and potential pitfalls that inevitably will arise in the course of attempting to collect on a debt claim from the time the debt becomes due all the way through to the enforcement of a court judgment based on the debt claim.

Two Supreme Court of Canada November 2004 landmark decisions provide a preliminary outline of the parameters of the Crown’s duty to consult and, where appropriate, accommodate Aboriginal peoples in circumstances where Aboriginal interests have been asserted, but not proven. The decisions also provide a framework for Aboriginal consultation activity related to potential infringements of Aboriginal rights caused by land and resource development activities. These decisions are also significant for practitioners of administrative law given the Supreme Court’s reliance upon administrative law principles.

There are many enumerated acts of bankruptcy in the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, but most creditors will rely on the ground that the debtor has ceased to meet his liabilities generally as they become due. It is also important to note that a debtor be unable to pay liabilities as they become due – as opposed to being able but unwilling.

This paper will consider the background of the move to eliminate mandatory retirement, and after considering the arguments for and against mandatory retirement, the implications of a ban on mandatory retirement for the human resource practices of employers in British Columbia will be examined.

An overview of legislative changes and caselaw developments in British Columbia property assessment and taxation in the past year. The review is not intended to be exhaustive, but instead to provide a cross-section of topical cases which may be of interest both to the B.C. chapter and the national membership. The focus lies on stated case decisions.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

On July 20, 2005 the Supreme Court of Canada overturned Court of Appeal decisions from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia finding that Mi’kmaq people have a treaty right to harvest timber for commercial purposes. In so doing, the Court also provided guidance on how to assess aboriginal title claims. The decision is therefore of significance to forestry and other resource sectors in British Columbia and other parts of western and northern Canada where aboriginal title claims remain outstanding.

Supreme Court of British Columbia Upholds Unequal Reduction of Benefits in Multi-Employer Plan.

The Business Corporations Act (Alberta) has been amended to provide for the establishment of unlimited liability corporations (ULCs), which have been used for cross-border tax planning for a number of years. Lawson Lundell has extensive experience in structuring transactions that utilize ULCs.

A hallmark of the assessment and taxation of property in B.C. is the principle of equity: taxing authorities must deal even-handedly with all taxpayers in a municipality or rural area, and all taxpayers within a class must be treated in the same way. This is a brief overview of the statutory basis of duties and powers of the Assessor and the Board in the context of recent developments in the case law concerning the application of equity in assessments, and some practical observations on the use of equity in an assessment appeal.

A brief overview of the principles of classification of industrial properties in the context of a review of recent classification decisions. Under s. 19(14) of the B.C. Assessment Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 20 and the Prescribed Classes of Property Regulation (B.C. Reg. 438/81), real property in B.C. is classified for the purposes of assessment and taxation into one or more of eight property classes.

New Federal Plan for Kyoto Commitment Implementation.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Unlimited Liability Companies (“ULC”) have become useful vehicles for the acquisition of a Canadian business by a U.S. investor. This paper summarizes the advantages of using a ULC, the treatment of a ULC in Canada and in the U.S. and the use of a ULC in a factual setting involving the acquisition of a Canadian business.

On March 24, 2005, Bill C-43 was tabled in the House of Commons. Parts 13, 14 and 15 of Bill C-43 contain federal government measures for implementation of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Kyoto Protocol came into force on February 16, 2005.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Two 2004 Supreme Court of Canada decisions in Haida Nation and Taku River Tlingit have provided greater clarity regarding the role and responsibilities of government, aboriginal groups and industry in consultations with aboriginal communities and accommodation of aboriginal concerns.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Since the mid-1980s litigation has been a fact of life for pension and employee benefit plan administrators and sponsors. However, there is a widely shared impression that the scope and frequency of such litigation is increasing. The purpose of this paper is to examine more closely this increase in pension and benefit litigation in Canada, and to comment on the role class action legislation may have had on this phenomenon.

Article based on an interview with Edward L. Wilson which appeared in the Volume 13, Number 2 June 2004 issue of The Scrivener, which is published quarterly by The Society of Notaries Public of British Columbia.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The electric systems of Alberta and British Columbia are interconnected through three transmission lines, and all three are treated for operational purposes as a single line. For the purpose of this discussion, these interconnections will be referred to collectively as the Alberta-BC Interconnection, or the Intertie.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The federal government has introduced the first phase of a multi-phased plan intended to harmonize the current greenhouse gas emission reporting systems of Federal, provincial and territorial governments.

Courts around the world have struggled in recent years to to balance two competing values: (1) providing a remedy to plaintiffs who have been injured by defamatory material posted on the Internet; and (2) ensuring that defendants do not face jeopardy in jurisdictions which lack any real or substantial connection to their activities and business.

There is a difference between true solicitor-client privilege (also called legal advice privilege) and litigation privilege (also called solicitor’s brief privilege). While certain fact patterns may give rise to both types of privilege (particularly when litigation is underway or within reasonable contemplation), there are key differences between the two, both in terms of the test for when they will apply, and the policies underpinning their existence.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Pension disputes are fertile ground for class actions. Where one member of a plan may not think it economic to bring a claim relating to the terms of that plan, a class action allows one plaintiff and one class action lawyer to aggregate all of these members’ claims into one proceeding. Given the monetary value of pension plans in Canada today, it can be expected that more and more pension disputes will be decided in the context of a class action.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The themes in this paper are: (1) the "legislative" nature of the MIPS / EPG manuals, how that is significant in appeals to the Board, and the importance of stakeholder input before they are implemented; (2) the timing of legislated changes to MIPS / EPG manuals, and problems that can arise when changes to these manuals are officially given to manual subscribers after appeal dates have passed; and (3) interesting questions that arise from s.15 and s.16 information requests and how they fit into the scheme of a consultative process.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

The Builders Lien Act (Bill 38) (the “Act”) was brought into force on February 1, 1998 and replaced the former builders lien legislation in force in the Province. The Act significantly changed previous existing construction practice and must be understood by anyone working in the construction industry in British Columbia. This article is a summary of certain features of the Act and is intended to serve as a basic overview of its operation.

Program of speakers at the Insight Conference on Commercial Real Estate Law held in Vancouver on June 17-18, 2003.

A comment from the legal perspective on the treatment of intangible and excess costs in property assessment in British Columbia. This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive review of all such costs in assessment, but is instead a general overview of what the author considers to be the most topical issues facing assessors and B.C. taxpayers (particularly those with industrial and utilities properties) today.

NWT Energy Policy Consultation 2003 (March).

Trustees of pension and other plans should look to the governance of their own plans to determine to what extent their own procedures, and the accountability within their organizations, need to be improved to minimize the risk to the funds they manage, and to preserve their ultimate ability to provide the anticipated benefits. Secondly, institutional investors need to be concerned about the reliability of the corporations and other entities in which they invest. Lack of sound governance jeopardizes the integrity and viability of capital markets.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.

New B.C. Energy Policy.

Speaking notes for a presentation to the Business Council of BC: Labour Relations and Human Resources Conference on November 26, 2002.

In a recent decision of the B.C. Court of Appeal, the extent of lien rights given to architects and engineers under the Builders Lien Act (the “Act”) was considered. The Court held that despite the 1998 additions to the Act whereby architects and engineers were expressly identified as potential lien claimants under the Act, such lien rights are contingent upon the commencement of construction of an improvement and do not accrue for a project that does not materialize.

1st anniversary edition of the Energy Law Group newsletter.

In some areas of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, land claims agreements have been settled with the resident aboriginal groups. There are important consequences for oil and gas operators. This paper provides a 2002 update on land claims in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, as well as on devolution of responsibilities from the federal government to the two territorial governments.

This memorandum outlines some of the Canadian tax issues which may be relevant in connection with Canadian operations. It also describes, in general terms, certain planning opportunities that may be available.

Quarterly newsletter from the Energy Law Group.