This is an update to our September 2013 Blakes Bulletin: Increases to Alberta Licensee Liability Rating Program.

In its June 11, 2014 decision in Iona Contractors Ltd. (Re), 2014 ABQB 347 (“Iona Contractors”), the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (the “Alberta  QB”)  held that the trust created by section 22  of  the  Builders’ Lien Act (Alberta) is not effective in the bankruptcy of a would-be trustee debtor. This result  is  consistent with, but reached completely independently of, the recent Ontario  Superior Court  of Justice  (Commercial List) decision in Royal Bank of Canada v. Atlas Block Co.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal has overturned the B.C. Supreme Court decision inKBA Canada1, which was reviewed in the September 2012 issue of Fully Secured.

This article has been contributed to the blog by Patrick Riesterer. Patrick Riesterer is an associate in the insolvency and restructuring group of Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

NORTH OF THE BORDER UPDATE

I.  Introduction

This article has been contributed to the blog by David Rosenblat and Justine Erickson.

Key points

When deciding whether to grant an order that administrators may sell secured assets as if they are not subject to security the court will:

This article has been contributed to the blog by David Rosenblat and Justine Erickson.

On April 17, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal to Nortel from the decision rendered by the Ontario Court of Appeal last October. For additional details and commentary on the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal, please see our November 2013 Blakes Bulletin: Ontario Court of Appeal Applies AbitibiBowater Test in Concurrent Decisions.

On December 19, 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the Registrar of Motor Vehicles (the “RMV”) cannot deny vehicle permits to individuals on account of pre- bankruptcy debts owing to the ETR Concession Company Limited (the  “ETR”). Based  on the  intent and  purpose of federal bankruptcy law to permit debtors to obtain a “fresh start,” it was concluded that the provincial act establishing the ETR conflicts with bankruptcy law and was, as a result, unconstitutional in part.

Background