Canada: Corporate/Commercial Law

Les dons d'actions de sociétés privées représentent une opportunité philanthropique croissante au Canada, mais comportent des complexités juridiques et fiscales importantes.

Gifts of private company shares present unique opportunities for charitable giving in Canada, but they involve complex tax and legal considerations that charities must carefully navigate.

Donor-advised funds (DAFs) in Canada are experiencing rapid growth and increased scrutiny regarding governance, operations, and sector-wide professionalization. As these programs mature, charitable organizations must navigate increasingly complex legal, compliance, and operational considerations while maintaining charitable giving at the core of their mission.

Who bears the costs when a transaction goes wrong? The allocation of risks between buyer and seller regarding financial and operational responsibilities for the period preceding closing is at the heart of this answer. While parties can rely on a range of tools to structure and manage risks, representations and warranties insurance (RWI) is increasingly used in Canadian M&A transactions, protecting parties against financial losses resulting from a breach of a seller's representations or warranties.

Who bears the cost when a deal goes sideways? This article examines how representation and warranty insurance has become an increasingly important tool in Canadian M&A transactions for managing risk allocation between buyers and sellers. It explores when RWI enhances deal outcomes versus when traditional risk allocation mechanisms remain the better choice.

Private equity sponsors investing in AI-driven platforms face unique challenges that traditional software acquisition playbooks fail to address. From assessing training data rights and third-party dependencies to structuring earn-outs tied to algorithmic performance, sponsors must adapt their approach across the entire investment lifecycle to protect deal value and execute post-close strategies.

For too long, Canadian tax law penalized business owners who wanted to keep their life’s work in the family. A sale to a stranger entitled the vendor to the lifetime capital gains exemption (LCGE) — currently $1,302,938 for 2026, indexed annually — sheltering over a million dollars of gain from tax.

Ontario's Ministry of Finance has released a consultation paper proposing significant changes to the licensing framework for managing general agents (MGAs) in the life and health insurance sector. The proposed amendments narrow the definition of MGAs, eliminate the sub-MGA concept, and establish new regulatory standards for activities like recruiting and training agents. What will these changes mean for insurance intermediaries and the broader distribution landscape in Ontario?

When workplace investigators face difficult decisions, many default to marking allegations as "unsubstantiated" to avoid risk. However, this seemingly safe approach carries significant organizational costs, undermines complainant trust, and often stems from insufficient training in credibility assessment and the balance of probabilities standard.

Le gouvernement canadien et les provinces intensifient leurs efforts pour soutenir l'innovation nationale face aux perturbations géopolitiques et à la concurrence mondiale. De nouveaux programmes de financement, sources de capitaux et initiatives axées sur le talent visent à commercialiser la recherche, préserver la propriété intellectuelle canadienne et attirer des investissements dans des secteurs stratégiques comme l'IA, les sciences de la vie et la défense.

Geopolitical disruptions and intensifying competition are driving Canadian governments to invest strategically in innovation, talent, and supply chain resilience. This edition explores recent regulatory developments in AI, employment law, financial services, and capital markets, while tracking the trend toward larger late-stage venture capital deals in 2026.

A convergence of geopolitical shifts, trade uncertainty and heightened industrial policy ambition has fundamentally altered the operating environment for Canadian businesses. How are federal and provincial governments responding with new funding programs, capital sources and talent initiatives to support the retention and growth of technology, intellectual property and human capital in Canada? This comprehensive overview examines recent strategic initiatives spanning artificial intelligence, life sciences,