Articles 2020

The decision in Redwater Energy Corporation (Re) may, for now, resolve the uncertainty regarding the end‐of‐life obligations owed by an AER licensee debtor in an insolvency proceeding. This article describes the likely consequences of the decision for the federal insolvency regime, energy industry, debt financing, and directors of oil and gas companies.

The SCC’s decision in Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Limited says there are end-of-life remedial obligations associated with a bankrupt’s non-productive wells that have to be addressed. These remedial obligations are a prioritization of the use of the bankrupt’s assets for compliance with its regulatory obligations to clean up under the terms of its licenses.This article provides an overview of the impact of the decision on insolvency professionals and secured creditors.

The potential conflict between federal insolvency law and provincial environmental law that came to a head in Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd was settled by the Supreme Court of Canada on January 31, 2019.

In 2018, the Cannabis Act came into force and introduced a federal regulatory regime to control the licensing and production of cannabis. However, the Act is largely silent as to the environmental obligations of licensed cultivators and processors (“licensees”). Licensees currently operate in a complex and overlapping environmental regime with significant potential liability. This article provides an overview of a licensee’s key obligations in regard to cannabis waste management.

Secured creditors should engage with the debtor, environmental and insolvency professionals as quickly as possible to protect their investment in collateral. Secured creditors will also need to consider whether it makes sense to risks of regulatory orders if they commence an insolvency process as there is a risk that there will be no distribution to creditors after satisfying environmental obligations.

In our continuing efforts to introduce you to your OBA Executive, we wish to introduce you to Maryana Viguiliouk. Read on to learn more about Maryana’s practice, her experiences, and her motivations for serving on the OBA Citizenship and Immigration Section Executive.

There were six substantive civil decisions released by the Court of Appeal for Ontario this week.

On February 21, the executive members of the Young Lawyers Division East Section traded in their business attire for aprons and hairnets to serve food at The Ottawa Mission as part of Lawyers Feed the Hungry. During this event, hot meals were served to more than 400 individuals over the course of just two hours. With dinnertime done and the tables cleared, I had two lingering questions in my mind: 1) why was that so rewarding, and 2) when could I do it again?

Suppose you own a house and want to open a restaurant on the ground floor. The applicable zoning by-law happens to permit that use on your property so you pull a building permit for the renovations, get a liquor license and start cookin’ with [TSSA-approved] gas. A week later, the City, in its wisdom, amends the zoning by-law to prohibit restaurant uses at your property. What do you do now?