With legislation, regulation, jurisprudence and practice evolving continually and rapidly, the need to stay current is more pressing than ever.

As we moved into the new year, we prepared a summary of the main trends in Canadian litigation, grouped into three categories:

• cannabis-related,
• class action, and
• energy sector litigation.

The first two will be felt nationally; the last is more focused on Alberta.

Cannabis-related Litigation

• Draft regulations implementing Canada’s “bail-in” solvency support regime for banks came into effect on September 23, 2018.
• The bail-in regime essentially requires that banks maintain “embedded contingent capital” in the form of bonds that convert automatically to equity in the event that the issuing bank has ceased or is about to cease to be viable.
• Key to the regime is the concept of “total loss-absorbing capacity”, or TLAC, which is the amount of embedded contingent capital that a bank will now be required to maintain (on a consolidated basis).
• As discussed b

• Le règlement mettant en œuvre le régime de « recapitalisation interne (émission) » au soutien de la solvabilité des banques au Canada est entré en vigueur le 23 septembre 2018.
• Ce régime de recapitalisation interne exige essentiellement des banques qu’elles maintiennent des « fonds propres d’urgence intégrés » sous forme d’obligations pouvant être automatiquement converties en actions si jamais elles cessent d’être viables ou sont sur le point de ne plus l’être.
• La clé du régime est le concept de capacité totale d’absorption des pertes

• On November 8, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) reversed the Federal Court of Appeal decision in Callidus Capital Corporation v.

• Dans son arrêt du 8 novembre 2018, la Cour suprême du Canada a infirmé la décision de la Cour d’appel fédérale (Callidus Capital Corporation c.

• On January 12, 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) delivered its judgment in North Shore Power Group Inc. v.

On March 1, 2018, Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation (CDIC) released its updated Guidance on the Exercise of Eligible Financial Contracts Close-out Rights in a Resolution Scenario.

Le 1er mars 2018, la Société d’assurance-dépôts du Canada (la « SADC ») a publié la mise à jour de son document d’orientation intitulé Droits de résiliation de contrats financiers admissibles en situation de règlement de faillite. Ce nouveau document d’orientation reflète les modifications apportées aux dispositions de la 

Federal Bill C-63, which received first reading on October 27, 2017, will amend the eligible financial contracts (EFC) stay safe-harbour where a Canadian financial institution is subject to a resolution procedure under the Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation Act(CDIC Act). The amendments will clarify that the limits that apply to relying on the safe-harbour based on insolvency or deteriorated financial condition are limited to two business days unless effective resolution actions have been taken.

On September 11, 2017, the Quebec Superior Court released a decision in the Wabush Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA) proceedings that may affect how pension plan liabilities are dealt with in insolvency proceedings in Quebec and the rest of Canada. The Court made four significant findings, each of which is discussed in detail below: