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October 23, 2026
For the first time in more than 50 years, the Court of Appeal for Ontario has updated its test for leave to appeal from a decision of the Divisional Court. In Knauff v. Ontario (Human Rights Tribunal), 2026 ONCA 653, a five-judge panel confirmed that the test for leave is whether the proposed appeal raises an arguable question of law or mixed law and fact that is of sufficient public importance to warrant consideration by the Court of Appeal.
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October 22, 2026
Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) will decrease its average workplace injury insurance premium rate from $1.23 to $1.18 per $100 of insurable payroll in 2027, with more than 80 per cent of premium-paying businesses receiving a rate reduction, according to an Oct. 22 release.
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October 22, 2026
Beginning on July 30, 2026, attackers drained bitcoin from wallets secured by Coldcard, a bitcoin-only hardware device manufactured by Coinkite, a Canadian technology company. The theft was traced to a March 2021 firmware defect that produced predictable rather than genuinely random seeds. Across four waves ending on Aug. 3, Galaxy Research traced roughly 1,816 bitcoin, approximately $116 million, of which 1,083 bitcoin went missing in the first 41 minutes.
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October 20, 2026
In the decision of Canada v. Martin, 2026 FCA 144, the Federal Court of Appeal was tasked with determining the scope of taxable Canadian source income earned by two professional baseball players employed by the Toronto Blue Jays: Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) reassessed the players’ taxable income to increase the tax owing based on the differing treatment of a retirement compensation arrangement (RCA). The CRA’s position was rejected by the Tax Court of Canada in Martin v. Canada, 2024 TCC 153, which was appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal.
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October 20, 2026
On June 25, 2026, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published final amendments to National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Obligations and National Instrument 54-101 Communication with Beneficial Owners of Securities of a Reporting Issuer and related changes to the corresponding companion policies (Amendments), providing non-investment fund reporting issuers the option to follow an alternative “access equals delivery” model (AED Model) to satisfy the delivery requirements in respect of annual financial statements, interim financial reports and related management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A). The Amendments came into force on Sept. 22.
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October 20, 2026
Outside of defence procurement, the Ontario Superior Court is perhaps the most dysfunctional government entity in Canada. Given that responsibility for the court is divided between the federal and provincial governments, that judges have decreed themselves above transparency or accountability, and that the system lacks meaningful feedback mechanisms, that result is largely to be expected. Still, watching this dysfunction play out in a small claims sheriff’s sale demonstrates a system plumbing new lows.
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October 20, 2026
With increasing longevity comes a host of challenging issues. One of them is maintaining an up-to-date estate plan.
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October 19, 2026
Property managers and directors of condominium corporations often assume that a condominium corporation (condo corp.) need not register for GST/HST under the Excise Tax Act (ETA) because the supplies it makes to owners and tenants of residential units are tax “exempt.”
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October 19, 2026
Splitting the difference feels like the sensible way to settle a case. Each side moves, nobody loses face, and everyone leaves with a number that sounds reasonable. In my mediation practice, I see it constantly. Counsel on both sides stake out positions, trade offers over several rounds and land somewhere in the middle.
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October 16, 2026
On Oct. 15, the Manitoba government introduced the Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act (BITSA 2), which has measures to help keep Manitoba Hydro rates affordable and improve accountability and transparency in the province’s financial reporting.
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October 15, 2026
Canadian businesses are calling for a comprehensive review of the country’s tax system to improve competitiveness and reduce complexity as the economy deals with the impact of the trade conflict with the U.S., according to a KPMG survey of companies with annual revenues of at least $10 million.
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October 15, 2026
McCarthy Tétrault has welcomed Brandon Wiener and Milan Vukovic as partners in its national tax group in Toronto.
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October 14, 2026
Laura Harrison has joined Aird & Berlis as an associate and member of the firm’s financial services group.
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October 09, 2026
The federal government has launched a consultation on the regulatory framework for charities, including potentially broader use of monetary penalties and suspensions, and limits on re-registration for charities whose status was revoked for serious non-compliance.
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October 08, 2026
WeirFoulds LLP has welcomed Valentine Gurfinkel and Jill Snelgrove as partners in its tax and construction practice groups.
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October 08, 2026
Part one of this series traced how charities and non-profit organizations are governed by two different, and now increasingly divergent, tests for advocacy activity under the Income Tax Act.
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October 07, 2026
According to new research from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) only seven per cent of small businesses plan to grow or diversify significantly over the next 12 months, while 31 per cent say they remain stagnant due to cost and economic pressures. Of the latter group, 59 per cent cited the tax burden hindering their expansion.
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October 06, 2026
Intergenerational estate freezes have long served as a bedrock mechanism for Canadian business owners seeking to defer tax and shelter wealth across generations. For years, corporate planners and family litigators assumed that routing future growth through a post-marriage discretionary family trust would cloak that interest as an excluded “gift after marriage” under Ontario’s Family Law Act (FLA).
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October 06, 2026
This is the first of a two-part series on the compliance landscape facing organizations that engage in policy advocacy, whether structured as 1) registered charities, 2) non-profit organizations or 3) commercial entities.
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October 06, 2026
Appeal by appellant from a Tax Court order granting respondent an interim confidentiality order protecting certain documents during discovery in two tax proceedings.
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October 05, 2026
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals over charitable donation tax credits claimed by appellants, affirming findings that the software licences donated by the taxpayers had little or no reliable proven value. In over 1,500 related cases, not one appeal was successful.
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October 02, 2026
The Supreme Court’s fall session is packed with interesting appeals in diverse areas of law including class actions, contracts, Crown immunity and Charter rights. The top court’s session begins Oct. 5 with an “opening of the court” ceremony in the West Memorial Building at 344 Wellington Street in Ottawa.
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October 02, 2026
1. Principal findings
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October 01, 2026
Mental health, job stress and keeping up with AI remain “front of mind” for the new president of Manitoba’s law society.
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October 01, 2026
Many people may be surprised and pleased to learn that there is a new path to becoming a Canadian citizen. The Government of Canada passed Bill C-3, An Act to Amend the Citizenship Act (2025), on Dec. 15, 2025. Before this legislation came into effect, Canadian citizenship by descent was limited to the first generation born outside Canada. For example, Emily was born or naturalized in Canada, and she could pass her citizenship to her child, Duncan, born outside of Canada.