Articles 2020

This article explores the uncertain income tax consequences facing Canadian taxpayers involved in the lending and borrowing of crypto assets on Decentralized Finance (DeFi) lending protocols. CRA's guidance is urged to be upholstered and increased to mitigate against the risk that taxpayers will incorrectly report and file crypto-asset transactions.

The Tax Court of Canada’s decision in Gaudreau c. Le Roi, 2023 CCI 115 (currently under appeal to the FCA), addresses whether a taxpayer may be compelled to produce an accounting firm’s memo in the context of the taxpayer’s examination for discovery. The taxpayer resisted disclosure on the basis that the accounting firm’s memo was not relevant to the CRA’s assessing position. The Tax Court nevertheless concluded that there is no accountant-client privilege and that the memo should be disclosed.

In R v. Bykovets, the Supreme Court found that there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in IP addresses and, as such, law enforcement need judicial pre-authorization to obtain access to them. This article provides a brief overview of the SCC’s decision and discusses important considerations under Canadian privacy law when determining the extent to which a business may disclose personal information to law enforcement without consent.

This case comment reviews a motion to strike in a product liability matter that concludes claims for statutory warranties require privity of contract, and claims in negligence require compensable damages to person or property, or real and substantial danger.

Discussion of a February 27, 2024 program held by the University of Ottawa’s Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory on the Rights of the Child titled, “Parents, Schools and Children's Rights."