Articles 2023

COVID-19 has brought upheaval across all industries and sectors of society. While this is no less true with respect to environmental matters, many environmental legal requirements remain in place and require continued compliance, despite challenges faced by companies in Canada. On the other hand, many court proceedings and municipal processes have been suspended. This article sets out some practical guidance on how to navigate both ends of this spectrum.

This article discusses the tax treatment of home office expenses for employees.

Due to the current global COVID-19 pandemic, in-house counsel are being inundated with requests regarding the impact of the pandemic on their organization’s activities. The purpose of this article is to provide in-house counsel with strategies and tips to assist you as you navigate the legal and contractual issues your organization will face during these unprecedented times.

On March 26, 2020, the Health Law and Elder Law Sections of the OBA hosted a joint priority professional development program on emergency management, delivering virtual and in-person care, and the lessons learned from SARS. Carina Lentsch provides a summary of this program.

This article outlines the economic measures announced by the federal government thus far to assist charities and not-for-profits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This quarterly update focuses primarily on Ontario legislation and FSRA communications resulting from the COVID-19 Pandemic. We have also covered the recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision Austin v. Bell Canada, overturning the earlier Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision which we covered in our October 2019 Newsletter.

This article offers a legislative suggestion for promoting the development of purpose-built rental housing in Toronto.

This article discusses tax issues that can arise in respect of executor compensation and presents an important planning tip.

Topics discussed at the February meeting included disclaimer provisions in mutual wills, tax treatment of attorney compensation, thorny issues facing the calculation of estate administration tax, and estate trustee liability in the face of an insufficient holdback, among others.

Please find below our summaries of this past week’s civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In Carleton Condominium Corporation No. 476 v. Wong, the Court issued its first decision regarding COVID-19. The appellant requested an adjournment of an appeal because in-person hearings are suspended. Paciocco J. denied the request, holding that the inevitable backlog of appeals should not be aggravated by adjourning matters that can be fairly adjudicated in writing.