Articles 2023

Summer has arrived and so has the latest edition of the Shepherd Rubenstein Energy Regulatory Update, a quarterly round-up of the key developments in the Ontario energy sector. We scoured the regulatory landscape to provide you with a summary of all the important happenings between April and June (and the first few days of July) so you can stay in the know.

On December 13, 2023, the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing announced that it would be taking a critical eye to a number of existing ministerial zoning orders made pursuant to the Planning Act, and proposing revocations and amendments in support of a new “use it or lose it” approach to such orders. It will also be consulting with stakeholders on a new “go-forward framework” in respect of Ministerial Zoning Order requests and approvals.

Effective January 1, 2024, the Law Society’s temporary emergency measure allowing licensees to virtually verify client identity without authentication ended. Licensees must now authenticate an individual’s government-issued ID, meaning the licensee must use a process or method to determine if the ID is true and genuine and cannot do so virtually. Bylaw 7.1 (made under the Law Society Act) allows two methods of verification virtually: the credit file method and the dual process method.

This article summarizes the outcome of plaintiff's and defendant's motions in the ongoing Ontario Superior Court of Justice case titled Tripsetter Inc. v 2161907 Alberta Ltd. 2023 ONSC. A central issue in this case is the question of whether Tripsetter was a franchisee of the defendant, and able to avail itself of remedies provided by the Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000, S.O. 2000, c. 3, or was merely a licensee.

This article examines how the mitigation doctrine applies in franchise disputes. After identifying the rationales for mitigation, consideration is given to the circumstances under which franchisees and franchisors have a duty to mitigate, and circumstances where they do not. Both franchisees and franchisors should mitigate damages resulting from a breach of the franchise agreement; however, franchisees are not under a duty to mitigate their damages after rescission of the franchise agreement.

As another year has come to an end and we have already embarked on a new year, we take this opportunity to reflect on a number of significant changes to Canadian privacy law. From promising developments to proposed legislation to a groundbreaking investigation, there is much to review as we head into 2024. This article reviews the top five recent developments we encountered this year.