In Kerr Interior Systems Ltd., the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta discussed a number of issues which arose as a result of two creditors registering builders liens against a third party’s property in Saskatchewan.

On July 31, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Poonian v. British Columbia (Securities Commission), on whether financial sanctions imposed by securities regulators are dischargeable through bankruptcy. The decision resolves a conflict between Alberta and B.C. jurisprudence and will have a significant impact on the treatment of all administrative orders in bankruptcy proceedings.

The facts

On December 6, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the appeal of Poonian v British Columbia Securities Commission, 2022 B

This article has been contributed to the blog by Caitlin Fell and Sean Stidwill. Caitlin Fell is an associate in the insolvency and restructuring group of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP and Sean Stidwill is a summer student at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

1. Introduction

As a result of their “open” nature, the various Personal Property Registry systems in Canada are occasionally the subject of abuse. For example, in the midst of a litigation proceeding, it may be inappropriately suggested that to prevent an adversary from transferring or dealing with their assets, a financing statement should be registered in order to annoy the other party or to scare off any potential transferees.

In a pivotal decision released May 19, an Alberta court ruled in favour of Grant Thornton Limited, the Receiver and Trustee in the Redwater Energy Corporation (Redwater) receivership and bankruptcy proceedings, upholding its right to disclaim Redwater’s non-producing oil wells and sell its producing ones. Gowling WLG served as co-counsel to Grant Thornton throughout the proceedings.

A recent Alberta case1 has addressed the proposed use of a plan of arrangement under theCanada Business Corporations Act (“CBCA”) where proceedings under insolvency statutes may be more appropriate.  In Connacher Oil, Connacher Oil and Gas Limited (“Connacher”) and 9171665 Canada Ltd.

A recent decision of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Tallgrass¹⁰ clarifies the threshold that a company must meet when it seeks relief pursuant to the CCAA¹¹, particularly when such an application is met with a competing applicati

The Alberta Court of Appeal recently ruled on a case1 dealing with the priority of claims to the bank accounts of a petroleum operator which had gone into receivership, where the operatorship was governed by the 1990 CAPL Operating Procedure. The operator had failed to pay to the non-operators revenues of approximately $300,000, having only $58,000 left in the commingled account. The Operating Procedure imposes a trust on the production revenues but also expressly allows intermingling of these funds with the operator's general funds.