Thursday, February 27, 2020 @ 12:29 PM
Gig economy workers in Ontario push for unionization
A new battle is taking place on the gig economy front, where technology is reshaping traditional employment relationships. Workers for Foodora have won the right to unionize in a carefully reasoned, 40-page decision by the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB). A different union has announced that it is applying on behalf of Uber drivers. ... [read more]
Wednesday, February 26, 2020 @ 1:09 PM
Corporate immigration compliance: What in-house counsel should know
Canadian companies are increasingly reliant on skilled foreign talent to support business strategies, to be first to market and to stay competitive in a global economy. The need for foreign workers in Canada has resulted in an increase in activity for in-house counsel as they manage internal processes and engage with outside specialty counsel. With innovation and technology underpinning the growth in many sectors of the Canadian market, it is likely that the need for foreign talent in Canada will continue to increase, making corporate immigration compliance a “must-know” topic for in-house counsel. ... [read more]
Wednesday, February 26, 2020 @ 8:29 AM
Representation and warranty insurance: How it works
In M&A transactions, representation and warranty insurance (RWI) is an insurance policy designed to respond to and protect against losses suffered by an insured party as a result of a breach of a representation and warranty. ... [read more]
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 @ 9:58 AM
Privacy commissioner seeks court order against Facebook
The federal privacy commissioner has filed an application in the Federal Court to order Facebook to comply with Canada’s private sector privacy law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The court proceedings arise out of the joint investigation by the commissioner and the B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner into the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data breach. That investigation focused on the unauthorized collection and sharing of the personal information of more than 50 million users worldwide, including over 600,000 in Canada, for the purposes of targeting political messages. ... [read more]
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 @ 9:35 AM
Federal Court of Appeal decision means no questions left on test for protective orders: lawyer
The Federal Court of Appeal has clarified the test to be used when determining whether to issue a protective order in intellectual property cases, a decision a lawyer involved in the case says now offers greater certainty to companies on what their rights are in Canada when seeking to protect information. ... [read more]
Monday, February 24, 2020 @ 2:20 PM
Competition Bureau vision: Advocacy, transparency, active enforcement
During my time as general counsel and senior enforcement adviser in the Legal Services department at the Competition Bureau in 2018-19, I had the good fortune to work with all levels of the bureau and have emerged with a very good understanding of how they view the law, the economics and the bureau’s public interest mandate in different contexts: mergers, anti-competitive conduct such as abuse of dominance and cartels and deceptive marketing practices. ... [read more]
Monday, February 24, 2020 @ 9:08 AM
Workplace investigations: Doing them right, setting good example
Stories of toxic workplace cultures continue to dominate headlines — bullying, harassment and violence in the workplace — but importantly, the workplace culture has started to shift. Much of this shift can be attributed to disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein and the birth of the #MeToo movement. ... [read more]
Monday, February 24, 2020 @ 8:53 AM
U.S. immigration: Policies creating logical inconsistencies
As we stated in our previous article on the increasing impact of U.S. immigration policy shifts, we now have policy — which was never meant to trump law, no pun intended — being used as a weapon to circumvent reason. ... [read more]
Friday, February 21, 2020 @ 2:06 PM
Humour in the practice of law: Seriously | Marcel StrigbergerAre you sometimes overstressed practising law? Is your sense of humour dormant or even worse, muzzled? Of course not, but if it is … ... [read more]
Friday, February 21, 2020 @ 8:22 AM
Estate freeze: Transferring business ownership to next generation
Private businesses — many of which are family-owned and operated — are a key driver of the Canadian economy. Business owners invest heavily, working long hours and putting their capital at risk, to build and maintain their enterprises. Sadly, many businesses fail despite these efforts, but sometimes the results are impressive in terms of job creation, economic impact and growth in the value of the business. It’s been suggested that “estate freeze” tax planning allows wealthy business owners to escape taxation. Whether or not one agrees that wealthy Canadians should pay more taxes, the elimination of estate freeze planning will not make our tax system fairer or more efficient. ... [read more]
