Insights

Many commercial leases contain either an option to renew or an option to extend the term of the lease. However, what many landlords and tenants do not know is that renewing a lease and extending a lease is not the same thing. A lease that is renewed comes to an end for an instant at the end of the original term, prior to the renewal term beginning...

Q: My Family Farm Corporation has applied for a loan from Farm Credit Canada. They are asking for a personal guarantee for the loan from me and my husband. They told us that we have to each speak to a lawyer to get independent legal advice for the guarantee. Why is this necessary? A: The short answer to this question is “to make sure that they can...

“He got off on a technicality” A colleague of mine used this phrase recently while commenting on a case so I decided to write about it. This is often the reaction of people upon learning about an obviously “guilty” individual evading justice; a little luck and perhaps some clever lawyering and the accused went free. The purpose of this short post...

When a person loses capacity and the ability to make their own decisions while they are still alive, what happens? Who can assist that person in dealing with day to day and financial matters? Here in Saskatchewan, the answers to these questions can be found in The Powers of Attorney Act, 2002 (the “Act”). Typically, if a person has done the proper...

SUPREME COURT OF CANADA RULING On Friday, June 14, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its 72-page decision on random alcohol testing in unionized workplaces (Communication Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper, Ltd.). The Court split 6-3, with Chief Justice McLachlin being one of the three dissenting...

On Friday, October 19, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision on R. v. Cole. [If you would like to read the full case, please refer to the following link to this Case] BACKGROUND The case involved a high school teacher who had stored a nude picture of an underage female student on his school-owned laptop computer. Shortly after the...

LEGISLATION WATCH Legislation Update (PIPEDA) The federal government has recently introduced amendments to PIPEDA ( Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act). Depending upon the business, these changes may be significant. In addition to the existing exceptions that allow for use and disclosure of personal information without the...

For All Employers Breaking News: Employees & Social Media A sign of the times? At least one USA state (Maryland) has passed legislation making it illegal for employers to request the passwords to social media on-line accounts from current or prospective employees, so that the employer can investigate the employees' off-duty or pre-employment...

For All Employers Who Owns Client Lists - A New Twist on an Old Question? With the proliferation of social media networking websites, the common issue arises for a company about the ownership of the client list that is now integrated into the former employee's LinkedIn, Facebook or other social media pages. The problem is that most of these...