The Complete Brief
-
June 25, 2025
B.C.’s Commercial Liens Act: Enhancing consistency, efficiency
The Commercial Liens Act (Act) in British Columbia will come into effect on June 30, 2025. The new legislation is designed to reduce risks and costs for service providers who supply labour or materials for (i) restoring, improving or maintaining the condition or properties of goods, (ii) storing goods, (iii) transporting, carrying or towing goods, or (iv) salvaging goods, by implementing substantial changes to the law governing service-related liens.
-
June 25, 2025
Appeal Court finds complainant’s statement lacked ‘sufficient reliability’
Just after midnight on Dec. 26, 2022, JH called 911 to report that someone had entered her apartment on Christmas Day. She couldn’t identify the intruder during the 911 call but later named Preston Cardinal as the suspect.
-
June 24, 2025
Canada to impose new trade measures to protect domestic steel, aluminum sectors
The federal government will adopt additional tariff measures based on the “country of melt and pour” for steel and “country of smelt and cast” for aluminum over the coming weeks, aimed at protecting domestic steel and aluminum industries that are facing 50 per cent U.S. tariffs.
-
June 24, 2025
Nova Scotia court confirms ‘some basis in fact’ standard for class action certification evidence
The evidentiary burden to certify a class action remains low, but the “some basis in fact” standard must still be satisfied through admissible evidence, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court has confirmed.
-
June 24, 2025
N.S. court denies leave to appeal certification of class action related to COVID-19 deaths
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has denied a care home’s leave to appeal for an interlocutory certification order of a class action. The home argued that the judge incorrectly applied the test to certify common issues in a case where over 50 residents died at its facility due to COVID-19 exposure.
-
June 24, 2025
Manitoba government opens office in Washington to ‘strengthen’ trade with U.S.
Premier of Manitoba Wab Kinew has announced that the province has opened a “permanent office in Washington, D.C.,” to build on “trade and economic relationships with the U.S. that support Manitoba jobs.”
-
June 24, 2025
LSO presents honorary degree to professor Payam Akhavan
At the June 23, 2025, Call to the Bar ceremony in Ottawa, the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) conferred a degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa (LLD) upon professor Payam Akhavan.
-
June 24, 2025
Ontario court certifies negligence class action against Smith & Wesson over Danforth shooting
The Ontario Court of Appeal has certified a class action against Smith & Wesson over allegations that the gun manufacturer was negligent in failing to implement technology to prevent unauthorized use of the gun used in a 2018 mass shooting in Toronto.
-
June 24, 2025
Reconciling access to justice and pragmatism in Supreme Court interventions: The path forward
The Supreme Court of Canada should revisit its current policy governing appearances by counsel for interveners in hearings and references in a manner that reconciles access to justice and pragmatism. The proposed solution is to allow interveners to choose between appearing before the court in person and appearing virtually using existing Supreme Court technological infrastructure.
-
June 24, 2025
Outstanding leadership in a multigenerational workforce
As a managing partner or law firm owner, do you find it challenging to navigate all the current generational differences within your team?