Defamation Claim Against Premier Ford Slapped Down

In Blair v. Ford, 2021 ONCA 841, Brad Blair (“Blair”) appealed the decision of Justice Belobaba to dismiss Blair’s action against Premier Doug Ford (“Ford”) on the basis that it was a strategic lawsuit against public participation (“SLAPP”).  The Court of Appeal dismissed Blair’s appeal and upheld the decision of Justice Belobaba.  This is another …

Egregious Contempt Punished Severely

A. Introduction In Paramount Fine Foods v Johnston,[1] the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (the “Court”) sentenced the defendant, Kevin J. Johnston (“Johnston”), to 18 months in prison for six acts of contempt arising from his breaches of a permanent injunction.  This decision demonstrates that Ontario judges are not reluctant to impose severe penalties for …

Damages for Identity Theft? Think Again.

In today’s day and age, data breaches are common. Digital extortionists will use sophisticated techniques to obtain confidential and private information of millions of individuals from well-known platforms like Yahoo and Shopify. If you are a victim of such an attack, the question becomes: what damages are you entitled to? Unfortunately, a recent decision by …

Consumer Privacy Protection – What It Means for Cross-Border Businesses

As a cross border firm, we are legally “bilingual”. Meaning, we translate and interpret the requirements of U.S., Canadian, EU and other international privacy requirements into a comprehensible format for our clients. For example, from the Canadian perspective, we focus on “personal information”, from the EU perspective, the focus is on “personal data”, and both …

Everybody Is Jumping on the Privacy Update Bandwagon: Alberta Consulting on Critical Updates to its Privacy Laws

The province of Alberta has joined the Canadian Federal Government and a number of the other Canadian provinces, proposing to update its privacy laws. Currently, Alberta’s legal privacy framework includes the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP). These laws govern the collection, use, and disclosure …

Ontario Updates Director Residency Requirements

As of July 5, 2021, corporations incorporated under Ontario’s Business Corporations Act will no longer be required to have at least 25% of directors be resident Canadians. Effective July 5, 2021, subsection 118(3) of Ontario’s Business Corporations Act (“OBCA”) will be repealed, with the effect that corporations incorporated under, or continued into Ontario under the …

Brace Yourself – Quebec’s Bill 96 Proposes Substantial Changes to French Language Laws

What happened? The Quebec Government made waves when they tabled Bill 96 – An Act respecting French, the official and common language of Quebec, on May 13, 2021. The bill amends the province’s Charter of the French Language by instituting some broad and significant changes to Quebec’s language laws. Once passed, Bill 96 would affirm …

A Reminder to Purchasers of the True Cost of Not Closing – It’s not “Just the Deposit”

In Prowse v. Noroozi 2021 ONSC 3099 (CanLII), Justice McCarthy of the Superior Court of Justice recently granted summary judgment for $806,380.59 against a purchaser of a luxury home in King City (the “Property”) in an aborted real estate transaction. The facts in Prowse v. Noroozi are not uncommon.  The sellers listed the Property on …