Saskatchewan’s Proposed Comprehensive Franchise Legislation

  • April 12, 2024
  • Madison Black, associate, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP

Saskatchewan is poised to become the seventh province in Canada to enact franchise legislation, following the introduction of Bill 149 The Franchise Disclosure Act (the “Bill”) in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (the “Legislature”) on November 9, 2023. The Bill underwent its second reading on March 4, 2024, where the Legislature referred it to the Standing Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs and Justice (the “IAJ Committee”) for a clause-by-clause examination, which may include amendments. If the Bill is enacted, it will serve as Saskatchewan’s first and only comprehensive franchise legislation.

The Government of Saskatchewan had a brief call for public input about the need for franchise legislation and the use of the Uniform Franchises Act  (the “UFA”) adopted by the Uniform Law Conference of Canada as a starting point. In response, the Canadian Franchise Association urged the province to follow the most recently enacted provincial franchise legislation, British Columbia’s Franchises Act (the B.C. Act), which was enacted in 2016 and came into force in 2017. When introducing the Bill, the Legislature indicated the Bill is based on the UFA.  In fact, the Bill appears substantially similar to legislation already in place in the other regulated provinces, and follows the B.C. Act particularly closely.  The complete draft of Bill 149 can be found on the Legislature’s website (available here).

Summary of Saskatchewan’s Bill

As with franchise legislation in the other provinces, the Bill would:

  1. impose a duty of good faith and fair dealing among franchisors and franchisees and provide remedies for a breach of that duty;
  2. confirm franchisees’ right to associate and provide remedies for infringement of such rights;
  3. require franchisors to provide a disclosure document, including prescribed information, to a franchisee prior to the franchisee entering into a franchise agreement;
  4. provide for a rescission remedy for a franchisor’s failure to comply with the disclosure obligation;
  5. create a right of action for damages for a franchisor’s misrepresentation contained in a disclosure document or for the failure to comply with the disclosure obligations;
  6. create other rights of action for damages;  and
  7. prevent the waiver of the application of the franchise legislation, other than in the course of the resolution of a claim or dispute that is subject to the legislation.