Lors de la négociation d’un bail commercial, le bailleur a tout intérêt à exiger des garanties de son futur locataire pour se protéger en cas d’inexécution des obligations de celui-ci. Une cause fréquente du manquement par le locataire à ses obligations est son insolvabilité ou des difficultés financières. Or, il est important pour tout bailleur de savoir que la faillite d’un locataire ou le dépôt par celui-ci d’un avis d’intention ou d’une proposition aux termes de la Loi sur la faillite et l’insolvabilité (« L.F.I.

When negotiating a commercial lease, the lessor has every interest in demanding guarantees from his future tenant to protect himself in case of non-fulfillment of his obligations. A common cause of the tenant's breach of his obligations is his insolvency or financial hardship. However, it is important for any lessor to know that a tenant's bankruptcy or filing of a notice of intention or a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (" LFI ") may have the effect of annihilating the protection offered by certain guarantees.

2017 saw a number of interesting and important developments in Canadian insolvency and restructuring matters. Some of the highlights (which, in certain instances, will continue as issues in 2018 and beyond) are set forth below:

1) Trends: Fewer CCAA Filings and Retail Insolvencies in the News

Until a court orders otherwise, a monitor appointed under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act is a neutral party and may not take sides in favour of one stakeholder over another.

In a January 31, 2018 decision from the bench in the matter of Royal Bank of Canada v. A-1 Asphalt Maintenance Ltd. (Court File No. CV-14-10784-00CL) (“A-1 Asphalt”), Madam Justice Conway of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (Commercial List) (the “Court”) held that the deemed trust provisions of subsection 8(1)(a) of the Construction Lien Act (Ontario) (the “CLA”) were not, on their own, sufficient to create a trust recognized in a contractor’s bankruptcy or proposal proceedings.

Registering a financing statement under the Ontario PPSA[1] to perfect a security interest is a key means of protecting a secured creditor’s priority over collateral. It is important for secured creditors to be cognizant however that there are situations where other claims that are not subject to traditional registration requirements may still trump a secured creditor’s registered security interest.

The recent decision in ITB Marine Group Ltd. v. Northern Transportation Company Limited, 2017 BCSC 2007 ["ITB"] confirms the priority of pension claims in the insolvency context. The decision will be of interest to practitioners involved in priority disputes between secured creditors and beneficiaries of statutory deemed trusts, particularly those arising out of pension legislation.

Joint venture partners commonly enter into operating agreements which grant operators a security interest, referred to as an operator’s lien. Operator’s liens are, for the most part, consensual and contractual security interests subject to the provisions of the Personal Property Security Act, RSA 2000, c P-7 (the “PPSA”) and the priority regime set out therein.

Srie sur l'insolvabilit des dtaillants au Canada : Le point de vue des fournisseurs

Linc Rogers et Aryo Shalviri

What rights do subcontractors, bonding companies and owners have to project funds when a general contractor is insolvent?