Labour & Employment
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November 19, 2025
Ontario court rules forum clause survives corporate transfer in dismissal dispute
The Ontario Superior Court has upheld a forum selection clause in an employment agreement in a dispute over the dismissal of an employee whose contract was transferred from a federal Crown corporation to its subsidiary operating under private management.
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November 19, 2025
N.S. to have ‘compliance’ officers in seafood industry
Nova Scotia has a new “compliance unit” to police the province’s billion-dollar seafood sector. According to a Nov. 17 news release, the unit will include four inspectors — their mission is to crack down on “illegal activities in the fish buying and processing sector.” They will be “responsible for monitoring, inspecting and investigating regulatory compliance and acting on offences.”
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November 19, 2025
Ontario, Maryland sign MOU to renew ‘strategic alliance’
The Government of Ontario has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State of Maryland to “expand cooperation in life sciences, information technology and clean energy industries, which are critical to both regions’ economies.”
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November 19, 2025
Trade dress: Peanut butter and other spreadable products in Canada
Peanut butter and other spreadable products, beloved staples in Canadian pantries, have evolved beyond simple food items into branded products with distinct characteristics and packaging. As companies compete for consumer attention, legal protections such as trade dress play a crucial role in defining and safeguarding the identity of these products.
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November 18, 2025
Highly skilled immigrants most likely to leave Canada: report
Highly educated and skilled immigrants are the most likely to leave Canada within five years of landing, according to a new report by the Conference Board of Canada and the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) released on Nov. 18.
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November 18, 2025
Feds remove internal trade, labour mobility barriers across Canada
On Nov. 17, the federal government announced the removal of barriers to internal trade and labour mobility though the “finalized regulations stemming from the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act.”
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November 18, 2025
The broken shield: Who is accountable when a Canadian’s life savings disappear?
Canadian banks say they’re on the front lines of the fraud war. But for Ray Anholt, a now 90-year-old Victoria resident, these defences were paper-thin. His entire life savings, painstakingly acquired and entrusted to RBC and CIBC, vanished in a slick “bank investigator” scam that exposes some interesting holes in Canada’s so-called consumer safety nets.
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November 18, 2025
Proposed reforms of civil procedure: Refreshing reboot or more of the same?
I was an articling student and had my work cut out for me. I worked on a client file to prove adverse possession for a right of way across a house that had existed since the 50s but was being enforced by a neighbour. I brought all the files I had researched myself — surveys of the land, blueprints rolled up, ancient texts, photos I took of the property, transcripts of examinations.
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November 17, 2025
The irrelevance of disability or death: Wrongful dismissal damages when employee can’t work
At two recent mediations, an issue arose that does not come up often, and as a result is not front of mind for most counsel: how to calculate wrongful dismissal damages when the employee could not have worked during the notice period. In both cases, defence counsel sought to discount damages to reflect what the employee would have earned had they actually been working, while plaintiff counsel insisted on full compensation for the entire notice period.
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November 14, 2025
B.C. commits $241M to double trades training in largest expansion in nearly 20 years
British Columbia has announced plans to invest $241 million to double trades-training in the province over the next three years, according to a release issued on Nov. 14.