Business Law Blog

Unprecedented. Have you heard that word a lot in the past 4-5 months? Not surprisingly, the word ‘unprecedented’ is the default word to describe society’s reaction to COVID-19, its effects on our healthcare systems, our behaviours, our compliance (or not) with government directives and guidelines, and the impact to our economy and economic well-being. This is, in ...

The Canadian government, concerned about the impact of COVID-19 on corporate valuations, has issued guidance that it will pay particular attention to foreign direct investments of any value (meaning, even investments that are not subject to review under the Investment Canada Act (the “ICA”)).  The government’s announcement does not amend the ICA, nor any ...

After the federal government’s initial rollout of its COVID-19 Economic Response Plan to provide economic measures to stabilize the economy (previously described in our blog post here), a number of voices from Canada’s business community have warned of program eligibility gaps and, in particular, that early and growth stage technology and innovation businesses ...

The emergence of COVID-19 and its sudden and significant impact on markets, businesses and the entire economy are uncharted waters for companies and their boards and managers. In the past two weeks in particular, businesses have had to rapidly address (i) personnel and customer health and safety; (ii) compliance with the health authority and other governmental ...

Thresholds for notification of mergers under Canada’s Competition Act and the review of foreign investments under the Investment Canada Act have increased for 2019.

Competition Act

Under the Competition Act, the pre-merger notification “transaction-size” threshold for 2019 is now C$96 million, an increase from the 2018 threshold of C$92 million.

Transactions ...

It has been quite some time since the Supreme Court of Canada considered the merger provisions contained in the Competition Act. On January 22, 2015, the SCC issued its decision in Tervita v. Canada (Commissioner of Competition), overturning the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal that had required Tervita to divest its interest in Babkirk Landfill Services Inc., a ...

This guide has been prepared by Lawson Lundell as a concise resource outlining certain key relevant laws and regulations that companies should consider when doing business in Canada. 

To read the guide, click here.