The recent decision of Justice B.E.

In times of crisis such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, businesses are required to make important decisions with very significant implications at an accelerated pace and in the face of the unknown. This was the case when governments across the globe ordered borders to shut and non-essential activities to scale down or stop almost a year ago. This remains true as governments have announced and begun implementing plans to restart the economy and financial pressures are mounting rapidly on businesses to resume operations while facing an uncertain economy.

The highest profile duty to consult case this past year was the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Coldwater First Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 FCA 34, relating to the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (TMX Project). This was a judicial review of the federal Cabinet’s decision to approve the TMX Project for the second time subject to numerous conditions. The TMX Project involves the twinning and expansion of an existing pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia.

Prior to December 23, 2020, it had been unclear whether a court had the jurisdiction to grant an order assigning a contract without counterparty consent, on application by a court-appointed receiver (a “Receiver”).

In a year quite unlike any other, the landscape of Canadian restructuring law saw significant developments in 2020. The COVID-19 crisis put novel issues before the courts, challenged businesses in unforeseen ways and saw various supports and concessions offered to struggling businesses from governments and creditors. Ultimately, while the supports and concessions enabled many businesses to avoid insolvency proceedings in 2020, many others sought the protection of an insolvency filing, with industries such as the retail industry particularly impacted.

The Ontario Court of Appeal, in 7636156 Canada Inc. (Re), 2020 ONCA 681 (“7636156”), recently affirmed the autonomy of documentary letters of credit as valid security for the obligations of a tenant under a commercial lease when that lease is disclaimed by the tenant or the tenant’s trustee in bankruptcy.

Dans l’affaire de la Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies (la « Lacc ») relative à Groupe Dynamite, le juge Kalichman de la Cour supérieure du Québec prononce un jugement au sujet de l’obligation d’un débiteur de payer un loyer post-dépôt dans un contexte où il ne peut pas utiliser les lieux loués.

In the matter of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) of the S.M. Group, the Québec Court of Appeal rendered a ruling on the effect of the law of set-off on debts arising out of alleged fraud and the application of the same Court’s ruling in Kitco to this type of debts.

In the matter of Aquadis, the Quebec Court of Appeal recently rendered a decision on the power of a judge supervising restructuring proceedings under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA") to approve a plan of arrangement giving the monitor the power to exercise rights against third parties on

Dans l’affaire d’Aquadis, la Cour d’appel du Québec rend un arrêt sur la possibilité pour un juge supervisant des procédures de restructuration en vertu de la Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies (« LACC ») d'approuver un plan d'arrangement accordant au contrôleur le pouvoir d'exer