Business Law Blog

The new BC Limitation Act came into force on June 1, 2013. One of the significant changes was to reduce the basic limitation period for most claims to two years from the date the claim was discovered. As a result, claims discovered on or after June 1, 2013 will become statute-barred in the very immediate future.

While it is always a good idea to take inventory of potential claims ...

The BC Budget (tabled on February 17, 2015) contained no major announcements and no general corporate or personal tax rate changes. Nonetheless, it provides opportunity for personal tax planning for high rate tax payers, and extends useful assistance to early stage businesses in BC.

Personal

The combined top rate of BC tax is 45.8% (16.8% of BC tax + 29% of Federal tax). The ...

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 ...

Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) is most widely known as the legislation which, as of July 1, 2014, prohibits the distribution of unsolicited commercial electronic messages. However, the legislation also contains provisions (as outlined in section 8 of CASL) which aim to curtail malicious software such as malware and spyware by requiring express consent for the ...

There has been a flood of commentary and discussion since the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or the “Court”) decision in Bhasin v. Hrynew, 2014 SCC 71 (“Bhasin”) was issued on November 13th.

The reasons the case has garnered so much attention from practicing lawyers and legal academics, are twofold:

• The Court created a new duty of honesty in contractual ...

On September 11, 2014, the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”), the authorities responsible for the regulation of Canadian securities markets, issued CSA Notice 62-306 proposing significant changes to the takeover regime.  The proposals represent a change in methodology from the approaches presented by the CSA in March, 2013, which addressed the ...

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. 

Background

Over the last 15 years, governments around the world have indicated their willingness to implement laws prohibiting the bribery of foreign public officials (a “Foreign Official”) in connection with attempting to secure a business advantage.  While Canada has had anti-corruption legislation in place since 1998 in the form of the Corruption of Foreign ...

On September 26, 2013 the Supreme Court released its decision in the Envision[1] case. The case deals with the amalgamation of two credit unions, but has broader implications for the tax treatment of amalgamations in Canada, and will be of interest to Canadian corporations contemplating a merger in the future.

In 2001, two BC credit unions amalgamated to form Envision. The ...

Gender diversity on corporate boards is a hot issue in Canada.  A recent report by TD Economics showed the extent of the disparity between Canada and other developed economies.  Women represent only 11% of board members for companies in the S&P/TSX Composite Index, with 43% of boards being all-male and 28% having just one female board member.  The report concluded that, in light ...