A recent Supreme Court decision showed the power of provincial securities commissions. In McLean v. British Columbia (Securities Commission) (2013 SCC 67, available here), McLean challenged the BC Securities Commission’s 2010 decision ... [more] Full article

On Thursday, September 19, the Canadian government announced a new plan for national securities regulation. So far, it has the support of just two provincial governments, Ontario and British Columbia, but the plan invites all other provinces and territories to sign on. Quebec and Alberta defeated the last federal attempt to create a national regulator, which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in the Securities Reference (2011 SCC 66). But the new plan differs in two important ways. First, there will be no federal law regulating the securities industry in general. Instead, that will be regulated by uniform provincial laws to be adopted by participating provinces. Second, the federal law will deal with criminal provisions, national data collection, and systemic risk in the financial sector, areas the Securities Reference either did not contest or specifically viewed as proper candidates for federal legislation. [more] Full article

On July 5, the Supreme Court upheld its strict test for preventing conflicts of interest in the legal profession. The appellant, Canadian National Railway (CN), was a client of the respondent law firm, McKercher LLP. Then McKercher agreed to represent the plaintiff in Wallace v. Canadian National Railway, a class action against CN and other defendants for potentially $1.75 billion. CN alleged a conflict of interest and applied to remove McKercher as lawyers for the proposed class. Writing for the Court, Chief Justice McLachlin agreed that McKercher crossed the well-entrenched “bright line rule” by acting against a current client without its consent. But she did not decide whether to remove McKercher, since she recast the legal test for that remedy and sent the question back to the court of first instance for reconsideration. [more] Full article

A big reversal just happened in the fast-moving world of securities class action litigation. In the last eight months, it seemed that the Ontario Superior Court, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada were all hitting the brakes on securities class actions. [more] Full article

The Ontario Court of Appeal gave the Consumer Protection Act a pro-consumer interpretation in Weller v. Reliance Home Comfort Limited Partnership,[2] but the “consumer” who brought the Application still lost. Under the Act, judges can bind consumers to contracts that fall short of consumer protection requirements, if annulling the contracts would be unjust. [more] Full article