Articles

The topic of real estate often intersects with family law and as not all family law lawyers practice real estate (or have a friend to call that does), this article strives to summarize some key points that may be notable: spousal consent, matrimonial home designations, and joint tenancy as it relates to death.

The recent decision of Yatar v. TD Insurance Meloche Monnex brings a much-needed addition to the caselaw pertaining to the proper approach for judicial review of administrative decisions. While a court does have discretion to hear an application for judicial review and decide issues on the merits, including whether to deny relief, this discretion does not extend to declining consideration of the application for judicial review altogether.

On Friday, January 26, 2024, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing issued a Ministerial Zoning Order (MZO), O. Reg. 10/24, reducing the heights of the protected air ambulance flight paths for St. Michael’s Hospital and the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids).

In Glencore Canada Corporation v. The Queen (2024 FCA 3), the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal on whether fees related to a failed bid were received on income or capital account. The FCA held that the fees were included in income as an inducement payment pursuant to paragraph 12(1)(x).

In Madison Pacific Properties Inc. v The King, the Tax Court of Canada found that the GAAR applied to deny the appellant’s deduction of net capital losses, citing the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Deans Knight for the first time in a loss-trading case. Two companies had acted in concert to fundamentally transform the appellant and use non-voting shares to access its losses without acquiring de jure control of the appellant contrary to the object, spirit, and purpose of subsection 111(4).

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.