Articles 2020

This article provides an overview of forthcoming amendments to the Mining Act introduced through the passage of Bill 71, the Building More Mines Act, 2023, on May 18, 2023. The amendments are being made as part of Ontario's critical mineral strategy and are intended to create conditions that allow mines to be built and operated more efficiently.

Aaron Atcheson and Kyle Bertsch provide a timely update on key considerations, including potential environmental permitting requirements and impacts on infrastructure assets, in the adoption of hydrogen power as a source of renewable energy.

The recent case of Bradford Estate v. Kingdon, 2022 ON SC 6204 should be of great interest to elder law practitioners as it interprets the Family Law Act in such a way that could create a great inequity for clients in very specific circumstances. Specifically, this case impacts clients who are going through what the media would term “grey divorce”, meaning they are separating from their spouse as an older adult.

Mr. Khorsand applied for judicial review of the Toronto Police Service Board’s background check after multiple failures as he sought employment as a Special Constable with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. The Board refused to give Mr. Khorsand the reasons for the failed checks even though he has no prior criminal convictions or charges. After accessing police records that confirmed this, he challenged the Board’s decision by seeking Judicial Review of the Divisional Court.

Relatively speaking, section 85 is not new to Canada’s Income Tax Act.  Even so, as of the date of this writing, section 85 has been discussed, at varying depths, in a mere 314 court decisions; the number of decisions suggests that, once understood, it is likely one of the less obscure sections in the Act.  To this end, as a technically operative section, understanding what is informally known as the section 85 rollover is better done as a disciplined and systematic exercise.

In one of its most recent tax decisions, Emergis Inc. v. Canada, 2023 FCA 78, the Federal Court of Appeal was unwilling to adopt the broad interpretation of the Tax Court of Canada applied to subsection 20(12) of the Income Tax Act regarding foreign non-business income tax.

Rectification is an equitable remedy that can be used to correct a written agreement that does not reflect the common intention of the parties. The availability of rectification was significantly curtailed by the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Canada (Attorney General) v. Fairmont Hotels Inc., 2016 SCC 56. The article discusses cases that followed and their effect.

I sat down with Joanna Radbord, Kelly Jordan, and Shirley Levitan, three lawyers who were instrumental in developing the All Families Are Equal Act, to talk about how the Act has helped 2SLGBTQ families. Experts in 2SLGBTQ family formation and the laws governing it, they have dedicated their legal practices to understanding and evolving the definition of family in Ontario. For decades, they have helped families navigate legal mazes to secure appropriate recognition for 2SLGBTQ families.