Business Law and Corporate Law

Section 160 of the Income Tax Act is one of the Canada Revenue Agency’s most powerful collection tools. It can make the recipient of a property transfer jointly and severally liable for the transferor’s unpaid tax debt where the property moved for less than fair market value to a non-arm’s-length person.

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.

Family-owned businesses often start governing themselves informally, with an understanding between siblings or cousins that works fine until the family, or the business, outgrows it. Two publications help explain what effective family enterprise governance looks like, and why it's worth the effort of building it deliberately rather than leaving it to chance.

Effective CEO succession planning requires careful board oversight and strategic preparation. This guide examines the critical role boards play in ensuring smooth leadership transitions and maintaining organizational continuity during periods of executive change.

Canada's Big Six banks and major TSX issuers saw strong shareholder support for incumbent boards and management in their 2026 annual meetings, while facing increased scrutiny over AI governance, capital allocation, and shareholder rights. Though ESG-related proposals declined roughly 30% year-over-year, emerging themes around artificial intelligence oversight and meeting format transparency signal evolving investor priorities in the Canadian governance landscape.

On February 24, 2025, Fasken published its third annual ESG Disclosure Study, offering insights into the environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") strategies of 81 publicly listed companies...

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently upheld a landmark decision establishing that corporate officers and directors can be held personally liable for civil fraud when they directly participate in making fraudulent representations. The case arose from a COVID-19 pandemic mask supply contract where an officer recklessly represented his company could deliver three million NIOSH-certified N95 masks to a hospital without having secured any such supply.

The Ontario Court of Appeal examines whether provincial legislation that retroactively extinguished civil claims and designated land within the Greenbelt violates the constitutional core jurisdiction of superior courts under section 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867. The majority and dissent offer sharply contrasting views on the limits of legislative power to immunize public officials from misfeasance claims and predetermine litigation outcomes.

Directors will be forgiven for feeling like AI is “everything everywhere all at once”. Yes, our reference to the 2022 Oscar winning film is intentional. Like the movie, AI defies easy categorization. It can be equal parts exhilarating and hallucinatory, impressive and uncomfortable.

Can the Federal Government regulate and revoke the status of registered charities? Or does that power belong exclusively to the provinces under the Constitution? That question is now before the courts, and every charity in Canada should be paying attention.

Canada’s Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act came into force on August 4, 2026, creating a public registry overseen by the Office of the Foreign Influence Commissioner.

Housing in Ontario stands at a crossroads between policy ambition and practical delivery. Can governments, non-profit providers, and private partners translate recent investments into lasting systemic change...