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 enforcement by Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) of its super priority position for deemed trust liabilities has long been an issue of uncertainty for secured creditors. While the Excise Tax Act (the “ETA”) has carved out “prescribed security interests” from that super priority, the calculation of the funds that continue to rank in priority to a prescribe ...

Changes to corporate law allowing the creation of a “benefit company”, a form of corporation whose business, in addition to aiming to generate profits, promotes one or more public benefits, will come into force in British Columbia on June 30, 2020. The legislation, discussed in our June 2019 blog post and the first of its kind in Canada, allows new benefit companies to be ...

Since the start of the spread of COVID-19 in Canada, the federal and provincial governments have announced various programs and subsidies to help Canadian businesses survive in light of the challenges posed by necessary social distancing measures, as discussed in our previous blog post here. Despite recent announcements to respond to gaps in government programs for ...

New Blanket Orders

The CSA have announced further temporary relief from certain regulatory filings:

• for non-investment fund issuers, a 45-day extension for periodic filings normally required to be made between June 2, 2020 and August 31, 2020; and

• for investment funds, a 60-day extension for periodic filings normally required to be made between June 2, 2020 and September ...

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 ...

Canada’s federal and provincial governments have been taking significant steps to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. Due to the various federal and provincial emergency orders implemented in response to COVID-19, certain businesses may not be able to fulfill their contractual obligations with various parties such as suppliers, purchasers, and ...

The 50^th Earth Day has passed this year under the shadow of a global pandemic, where the immediacy of human health has eclipsed, for now, the focus on the long-term health of the planet and humanity’s place within it that had begun to preoccupy businesses and investors. From a corporate governance perspective, that is reasonable, as risks to short-term survival take ...

Due to the recent economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are considering various options to weather the economic shock. One commonly considered option is to ask existing creditors to forgive all or part of a debt. However, this strategy is subject to a complex regime commonly known as the “debt forgiveness rules”. These rules can trigger important ...

On April 21, 2020, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General of British Columbia issued a Ministerial Order (the “Order”) permitting electronic attendance at meetings (collectively referred to as “Corporate Meetings”) held pursuant to the Business Corporations Act, the Cooperative Association Act and the Societies Act (collectively, the ...