We are the World! Big Changes to Canadian Trademark Law are Coming in 2019: What You Need to Know

Earlier this year, Canada’s federal government released the latest revisions to the Trademarks Act (the “Act”) and Regulations — a key step towards implementing the most significant changes to the Canadian trademark regime in half a century. After many false starts, it was announced that Bill C-31 (to amend the Act as part of a …

Key Business and Legal Considerations for Franchising Retail Cannabis Distribution

The movement towards the legalization of recreational cannabis has been greeted by the business world with the raptures reminiscent of the U.S. gold rush of the 19th century and the worldwide dot-com fixation of the 20th century. As governments try to figure out what controls they wish to impose on production, quality, location of retail …

Ontario’s Private Retail Cannabis System: Licensing Process, Restrictions on Licensed Producers and Implications for Retail Locations on First Nations Lands

UPDATE: effective the evening of December 13th, 2018, the Ontario government has taken a different approach to the retail cannabis licensure process as a result of the legal cannabis supply shortage across Canada. In lieu of the unlimited number of applications that were to be accepted on December 17th, 2018, the regulator will be accepting …

What’s Old is New Again in Ontario with Bill 47’s Sweeping Employment Law Changes

On June 1, 2017, following two years of consultation, Ontario’s Liberal Government unveiled the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act, 2017 (“Bill 148”), which introduced some of the widest-sweeping changes to Ontario’s employment legislation in the province’s history. The changes did not last long; less than one year after Bill 148 was passed, Premier Doug Ford’s …