Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Ontario Court of Appeal for the week of April 24, 2023.

Le 27 avril 2023, le projet de loi C-228, Loi sur la protection des pensions (« LPP ») a reçu la sanction royale et est entré en vigueur au Canada. Comme la LPP vient modifier considérablement le traitement des exigences au titre des régimes de retraite dans le cadre des procédures d’insolvabilité, il y a lieu pour les prêteurs de veiller à bien comprendre la nature et les répercussions de cette loi.

The Canadian Parliament has enacted (subject to the final stage of Royal Assent) significant changes to federal insolvency legislation, elevating the priority that must be provided to fund the deficit of a defined benefit pension plan when distributing debtor assets. Bill C-228, the Pension Protection Act (the “Act”), is an Act to amend the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”), the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (“CCAA”) and the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985.

Federal Bill C-228¹ (the Bill), new legislation intended to improve the protection of, and to extend the super-priority given to claims relating to, defined benefit pension plans in insolvency proceedings, completed third reading in the Senate on April 18, 2023 and is now awaiting Royal Assent before it becomes effective. The Bill is the result of a private members' bill, which was passed by the House of Commons in late 2022.

It is generally accepted that the push towards a greener future requires robust legislation, and in the case of common law jurisdictions ,supportive legal precedent which will assist in framing the landscape for the enforcement of environmental remediation obligations.

With the recent flurry of reverse vesting orders (RVOs) in Canadian insolvency proceedings in the last two years, courts have warned against over-use of this distressed M&A structure. In PaySlate Inc. (Re), 2023 BCSC 608, the Supreme Court of British Columbia hit reverse.

Following are this week’s summaries of the civil decisions of Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of March 27 to 31, 2023. There were only two substantive decisions. One was a commercial leasing matter, and the other was a receivership matter.

Table of Contents

Civil Decisions

Jagtoo & Jagtoo, Professional Corporation v. Grandfield Homes Holdings Limited, 2023 ONCA 214

The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan has rejected another attempt by a rural municipality to gain priority in an oil and gas receivership. This follows the recent Alberta Decision in Orphan Well Association v Trident Exploration Corp, 2022 ABKB 839, where the Alberta Court of King's Bench confirmed that the abandonment and reclamation obligations owed to the Orphan Well Association and the Alberta Energy Regulator rank in priority to claims of municipalities for unpaid property taxes in insolvency proceedings.

La 13^e édition annuelle de la publication Mining in the Courts fournit une mise à jour complète sur les développements juridiques concernant le secteur minier (disponible en anglais seulement). Cette publication comprend un résumé sur bon nombre des causes les plus importantes, ainsi que des articles offrant un aperçu sur les tendances juridiques actuelles et les défis auxquels l’industrie devra faire face au cours de la prochaine année.

Voici certains des sujets qui y sont abordés :

The recent decision from the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta (the “Court”) in Qualex-Landmark Towers Inc v 12-1- Capital Corp, 2023 ABKB 109 (“Qualex”) greatly extended the protective umbrella for costs associated with environmental reclamation obligations.