Publications
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The Role of the Expert under the new Code of Civil Procedure
The coming into force of the new Code of Civil Procedure on January 1, 2016 created some uncertainty for litigation lawyers. One issue was the role of experts in litigation and in particular the emphasis on joint experts and the filing of an expert’s report in lieu of testimony. Other provisions (…)
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Arbitration and quasi-judicial tribunals: Must corporations and private bodies necessarily be represented by a lawyer?
While individuals (natural persons) may represent themselves and need not resort to a lawyer before the courts, a legal person or a corporation must necessarily be represented by a lawyer, both pursuant to the Code of Civil Procedure (articles 23, 86 and 87) as well as by reason of the acts reserved (…)
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Artificial intelligence and its legal challenges
Is there a greater challenge than to write a legal article on an emerging technology that does not exist yet in its absolute form? Artificial intelligence, through a broad spectrum of branches and applications, will impact corporate and business integrity, corporate governance, distribution of (…)
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Employers, the VRSP: Ring any Bells?
On July 1, 2014, most of the provisions of the Voluntary Retirement Savings Plans Act1 (the “VRSP Act”) came into effect. At the time, this raised questions in the minds of numerous employers about their obligations under this new law. Since a first group of employers had until December 31, 2016 to (…)
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Autonomous cars will shortly be on the roads in Montréal
Autonomous cars have really taken off in the last few years, particularly due to the interest of both consumers and the businesses who develop and improve them. In this context, on April 5 and 10, 2017, the City of Montréal and the Government of Québec respectively announced significant investments (…)
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Press release from the ministère des Finances of Québec
Consultation on the 20% RuleOn April 18, 2017, the ministère des Finances of Québec announced a public consultation on the rules enacted in An Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services to limit the ownership of damage insurance firms by financial institutions. This consultation’s objective is to (…)
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CRS: Be ready for July 1st, 2017
CRS entry into force: July 1st, 2017 The Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) will impose new obligations on financial institutions, including investment funds, as of July 1st, 2017. These rules are an addition to the existing Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”), which applies to Canadian (…)
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The Supreme Court puts a break on civil actions brought following an automobile accident
On March 24, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down an eagerly awaited decision, namely in Godbout v. Pagé.1 In this case, the victims of two different automobile accidents were suing third parties for events that occurred following their respective accidents. For the first victim, it was the (…)
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Artificial intelligence: contractual obligations beyond the buzzwords
Can computers learn and reason? If so, what are the limitations of the tasks that they can be given? These questions have been the subject of countless debate as far back as 1937, when Alan Turing published his work on computable numbers1. Many researchers have devoted themselves to developing (…)
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Canada-Europe Free Trade Agreement – Imminent provisional entry into force
Provisional entry into force 90% of the Agreement will be in force The date is still uncertain, possibly as soon as June 2017 The Agreement in 6 key points Access to the European Union market, which includes 28 States and 500 million consumers; Elimination of custom duties on 98% (…)
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Artificial Intelligence and the 2017 Canadian Budget: is your business ready?
The March 22, 2017 Budget of the Government of Canada, through its “Innovation and Skills Plan” (http://www.budget.gc.ca/2017/docs/plan/budget-2017-en.pdf) mentions that Canadian academic and research leadership in artificial intelligence will be translated into a more innovative economy and (…)
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Authorization of care and placement: the Québec Court of Appeal rules on alternative therapies, the duration of orders and provisional enforcement notwithstanding appeal
On February 17, 2017, the Québec Court of Appeal1 upheld a decision of the Superior Court of Québec granting an application for authorization of care presented by the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux du Bas-Saint-Laurent. In this case, the patient attempted to assert the following (…)
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Federal budget and capital gain: Time for tax planning
There is currently speculation in the media that Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s next federal budget will increase the capital gain inclusion rate from 50% to 75%.The combined marginal tax rate on capital gains is currently 26.7% for a resident of Québec. This rate would reach nearly 40% if (…)