The year 2020 is drawing to an end and the construction industry is gearing up for what is typically referred to as the builders break over the December holidays. A lot of construction companies will find the 2020 builder’s break to be very different to those of previous years, due to the negative impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the construction industry, and the world at large.

On March 17, 2020, the Court of Appeal of Québec (the "Court") issued an important ruling concerning "pre-post" compensation and "non-dischargeable" debts under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act (the "CCAA"), by finding that the debt of a municipality arising from an agreement entered into as part of a voluntary reimbursement program ("VRP") under the Act to ensure mainly the recovery of amounts improperly paid as a result of fraud or fraudulent tactics in connection with public contracts ("Bill 26") is unsecured debt in connection with the insolvency of a co-contra

In response to the COVID-19 virus, Canada’s federal government has restricted non-essential travel and closed the US border. Canada’s provincial governments have enacted highly restrictive measures including mandating the closure of facilities providing recreational programs (i.e. gyms), libraries, public and private schools, licensed childcare centres, bars and restaurants, theaters, cinemas and concert venues, and the list goes on. Some provinces have also banned gatherings of more than 5 people and prohibited all non-essential businesses.

Today, amendments to the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA)and the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA), introduced to Parliament in April 2019 as Bill C-97, came into force. Certain of these amendments are likely to impact the usual flow of business among insolvency and restructuring professionals.

As Yeats said in his poem, The Second Coming: "mere anarchy is loosed upon the world". While perhaps not anarchy, certainly most insolvency practitioners expected the Alberta Court of Appeal decision in Redwater[1] to be upheld, preserving the priorities afforded to secured creditors and rendering the Provincial Government to be an unsecured Creditor.

On December 10, 2018, the Superior Court of Quebec (Court) released an important judgment concerning the assignment of contracts under the Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act (CCAA), in which the Court held that it was possible for an assignee to have contracts transferred to it without having to assume the monetary penalties arising from the assumed contracts for defaults by the assignor prior to the assignment.[1]

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.

As the Courts have often stated, in bankruptcy and insolvency law, time is of the essence. Bankruptcy and insolvency legislation allows the Court to craft orders with the specific aim of shielding a Receiver against frivolous actions, such that the Receiver may complete his task of managing property while enforcing the rights of a secured creditor in a timely fashion. The HRH Hotels Ltd. case is one such example where the Court ruled that a plaintiff's claim against the Receiver was frivolous and constituted a collateral attack on the Receivership process.

The recent decision in Iona Contractors Ltd. v. Guarantee Company of North America, 2015 ABCA 240 [Iona] (PDF) (leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada denied) clarifies the law regarding provincial statutory trusts in the insolvency context.

South African state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are coming under tremendous pressure to do something to extricate themselves from their financial woes. Any kind of bankruptcy event cannot be the answer: because of the obvious cross-default impact such a declaration will have on various debt and other instruments in the capital markets. It will also be catastrophic to the Government’s standing and rating in the financial markets.