Articles

On January 24, 2018 the Quebec Court of Appeal, in the matter of Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail v. 9069-4654 Québec inc., 2018 QCCA 95, rendered a highly anticipated decision on the interpretation of section 326 of the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (the “Act”). This decision was all the more welcomed since, pending clear judicial guidance on the rules for the transfer of benefit costs, a self-imposed moratorium on such transfers by the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (the “Commission”) had prevailed since 2015.

Two recent developments portend a rapidly changing environment for Canadian companies doing business abroad.

This article first appeared in French in the January 2018 newsletter of the Quebec retailers association (Conseil québécois du commerce de détail)
On November 15, 2017, the Consumer Protection Act (the “CPA”) was amended by An Act mainly to modernize rules relating to consumer credit and to regulate debt settlement service contracts, high-cost credit contracts and loyalty programs1 (the “Act”) which, as its title indicates, imposes new rules and obligations on Quebec merchants regarding consumer credit, as well as a new legal framework for loyalty programs. In addition the Act creates new requirements for merchants concerning their business practices and advertising.

In August 2017 the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered Detour Gold Corp. (the “Corporation”) to pay a fine of $1.4 million after it pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal negligence causing the death of an employee1. A surcharge of $420,000 was added to the amount of the fine, and the Corporation was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $805,333 to the family of the deceased.

Following the recent increase in Ontario’s minimum wage from $11.60 to $14.00, the decision by a Tim Horton’s franchisee to reduce employee benefits to compensate for such increase caused an international uproar.

While no such increase has been made in Quebec thus far, the debate remains current and has the potential to impact any franchise employing workers who would be affected by such a measure.

On January 29th, in the course of interlocutory proceedings in connection with a class action filed against Amaya for making false or misleading statements on the secondary market, contrary to Quebec’s Securities Act (the “Act”), the Court of Appeal ruled on a request for disclosure of documents prior to the authorization (certification) of the class action.