Canada’s Competition Act Reforms Include Expanded Power to Challenge Anticompetitive Agreements
Sept. 28, 2023 – The Minister of Finance recently introduced Bill C-56 to implement certain proposals announced by the Prime Minister designed to lower prices and “make life more affordable” for Canadians. The bill provides details of the proposed amendments to the Competition Act (Act) noted in our bulletin...
Canadian Government Announces “First Set” of Competition Act Reforms
Sept. 19, 2023 – In a recent press release , Canada’s Prime Minister announced a “first set” of proposed changes to the Competition Act , with additional “comprehensive legislative reforms” to follow in the coming months. While the federal government launched a consultation process on Competition Act reform in...
Major Expropriation Reform on the Horizon in Québec
May 30, 2023 – On May 25, 2023, the Québec government tabled a bill to replace the current Expropriation Act . Like the current law, the bill will apply to expropriations initiated by both the provincial and municipal governments. The bill provides for major changes related to: contesting the right to...
Competition Bureau Tests Canada’s New Drip Pricing Law
May 25, 2023 – Canada’s Commissioner of Competition filed an application under the deceptive marketing provisions of the Competition Act (Act) on May 18, 2023, alleging that Cineplex Inc. is making false or misleading representations to the public on its website and mobile app about the prices of its movie...
Modernizing Canada’s Retail Payments Ecosystem: Draft Retail Payments Activities Act Introduced
June 01, 2021 – The year 2020 will be remembered as a watershed for many reasons, including being the year that the world was forced to move online to an extent never seen before. Online commerce rose to stratospheric levels in 2020 – Amazon’s earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2020 showed that it was the...
Natasha MacParland and Christian Lachance Discuss Davies’ Insolvency Study with Canadian Lawyer
Jan. 15, 2021 – Business insolvencies in Canada declined in 2020 despite COVID-19, according to a recent Davies report highlighted this week in Canadian Lawyer . Davies partners Natasha MacParland and Christian Lachance spoke to the magazine about what the findings reveal and what they might signify for...
Top Court Expands Scope of Potential Liability in Price-Fixing Class Actions
Sept. 24, 2019 – The Supreme Court of Canada has released its long-awaited decision in two companion appeals that have significant implications for class actions alleging conduct that contravenes the criminal provisions found in Part VI of the Competition Act (Act). In its decision in Pioneer Corporation v...
May 10, 2019 – In a significant departure from past practice, Health Canada will now require prospective applicants for cannabis cultivation, processing or medical sales licences to have fully built regulatory-compliant facilities before it will review and process their licence applications. Health Canada...
Canadian and U.S. Tax Laws: A Review of 2018 and a Look Ahead to 2019
Jan. 31, 2019 – In our annual Tax Review and Outlook report, we look back at significant developments in the Canadian and U.S. tax landscapes in 2018 and offer our predictions on what to expect in 2019. Key Canadian Developments in 2018 Budget 2018 scaled back controversial initiative on taxation of...
U.S. Tax Laws: A Review of 2018 and a Look Ahead to 2019
Jan. 31, 2019 – Review of U.S. Tax Developments in 2018 U.S. taxpayers will remember 2018 as the year spent coming to terms with the tax reform legislation enacted at the end of 2017, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The TCJA included a surprisingly large number of new tax rules that have...
Hemp-Derived CBD: United States Liberalizes Regulation
Dec. 13, 2018 – While much of the focus recently has been on Canada’s recreational cannabis industry, the United States has made a progressive move of its own, approving legislation that will remove industrial hemp from the definition of “marihuana” under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The 2018 ...
Major Changes to Canada’s Trademark Laws to Come into Force in June 2019
Nov. 21, 2018 – The Canadian government introduced in 2014 the first procedural step toward ratifying and implementing five intellectual property law treaties in order to align Canadian practice with that of most other countries in the world. The government has also introduced amendments to its existing...
Nov. 12, 2018 – Perhaps the most controversial feature of Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL) 1 is its broad approach to liability for various actors and intermediaries involved in electronic communications. As we have previously explained , persons may be liable under CASL if they “cause” or “permit” a...
Peter Glicklich Speaks to Lexpert About Landmark U.S. Tax Ruling
Oct. 05, 2018 – In an article published recently in Lexpert , Davies partner Peter Glicklich speaks about the implications of the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in South Dakota v Wayfair Inc. , which held that states can require online retailers to collect sales taxes even if the seller does...
Ontario Releases Framework for Private Retail Cannabis Sales
Sept. 28, 2018 – With less than three weeks before cannabis becomes legal for adult use in Canada, Ontario has finally tabled its approach to retail distribution. Among the myriad aspects of the recreational cannabis industry left to the discretion of the provinces, retail distribution may have the largest impact...
June 26, 2018 – The U.S. Supreme Court has released a much-anticipated decision in South Dakota v Wayfair, Inc. , which overturned the Court’s decades-old limitation on states’ power to assert sales tax jurisdiction over out-of-state sellers. In this strongly worded opinion, released on June 21, 2018, the Court...
Suspension of Private Relief: CASL’s Private Right of Action Delayed
June 09, 2017 – Since its implementation in July 2014, Canada’s anti-spam law, or CASL, has continued to generate a fair amount of controversy due to its broad application and the availability of significant administrative monetary penalties. As we described in prior publications ( The Other Shoe Drops: The...
The Other Shoe Drops: The Private Right of Action Under CASL
Apr. 26, 2017 – The bulk of Canada’s anti-spam law, known colloquially as CASL, came into force on July 1, 2014. CASL sets out strict rules for a variety of online behaviours and is considered the strictest anti-spam law in the world, providing for administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of up to $1 million for...
Rewards Programs May Be Covered by Québec Consumer Protection Legislation
Mar. 06, 2017 – On February 22, 2017, Bill 791: An Act to amend the Consumer Protection Act in order to regulate rewards program contracts (Proposed Amendment) was introduced as a private member’s bill in the Québec National Assembly. The Proposed Amendment extends the scope of the Québec Consumer...
Watch This (Email) Space: New Private Right of Action for Misleading Representations
Dec. 02, 2016 – As 2016 draws to a close, almost everyone is consumed with preparing for the coming holiday season. However, businesses advertising in Canada would be wise to take a few moments this holiday season to start planning for next summer. Beginning in July 2017, private parties will be able to sue for...
Amendments to English Signage Requirements in Québec
Dec. 01, 2016 – On November 24, 2016, the Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (Rules) came into force. The Rules come in the wake of Québec (Procureure générale) v Magasins Best Buy ltée . In Best Buy , the Québec Court of Appeal ruled that the practice of...
Couche-Tard Acquiring CST Brands for US$4.4 Billion
Aug. 22, 2016 – Davies represented Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (ACT), a leader in the Canadian convenience store industry, in its acquisition of CST Brands, Inc. for US$4.4 billion and its subsequent sale of a portion of CST Brands’ Canadian assets to Parkland Fuel Corporation for US$750 million. The...
Mar. 22, 2016 – On March 14, 2016, the Manitoba Court of Appeal issued its long-awaited decision in Hafichuk-Walkin v BCE , 2016 MBCA 32 , joining the increasing number of Canadian appellate courts that have stayed duplicative class actions using the “ abuse of process ” doctrine. In 2004, the Merchant Law...
The American Lawyer Covers Three Recent Davies Deals
Mar. 14, 2016 – Davies is acting in three recent significant deals covered in The American Lawyer : the sale of Shaw Media to Corus Entertainment; McKesson’s acquisition of Rexall and Rexall Pharma Plus; and Couche-Tard’s acquisition of Imperial Oil retail assets in Ontario and Québec. Widely considered the...
Mar. 09, 2016 – Davies acted for Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (Couche-Tard), the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry, in connection with its $1. 68-billion acquisition of 279 Esso-branded fuel and convenience sites; 229 of which were located in Ontario and 50 were located in Québec. The acquisition...
Canadian Pre-Merger Notification: Overview
June 22, 2015 – The Competition Act R.S.C. 1985, c. C34 ( Competition Act ) requires that mergers, acquisitions and other business combinations that meet certain prescribed thresholds be notified to the Commissioner of Competition (Commissioner), who is the head of the federal Competition Bureau (Bureau),...
Apr. 06, 2015 – New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel is renowned for many things. An icon of glamour and luxury, the Waldorf Astoria was the tallest building in the world when constructed in 1931. It’s played host to numerous celebrities and is the reputed birthplace of such culinary dishes as eggs benedict,...
Mar. 17, 2015 – The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its first decision in nearly 20 years regarding the Competition Act ’s merger provisions on 22 January 2015. Its decision in Tervita Corp v Canada (Commissioner of Competition) is important because (1) it sets out the proper analytical framework for...
First Penalty Issued Under Canada’s New Anti-Spam Law
Mar. 11, 2015 – On March 5, 2015, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued its first Notice of Violation under Canada’s anti-spam legislation (known as CASL), which came into force on July 1, 2014. Despite its name, CASL is not limited to what one might normally consider spam...
