Articles

The Integrity in Public Contracts Act, assented to by the Quebec legislature on December 7, 2012, amended, inter alia, the Act respecting contracting by public bodies so that authorization from Quebec’s financial markets regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”), must now be obtained by any business enterprise seeking to enter into a public contract or subcontract, for an amount determined by the government. Such authorization effectively certifies that the enterprise in question satisfies the high standards of integrity that the public has the right to expect from them. These new provisions apply to the entire public sector, including Crown corporations and municipalities.

For some months now, Quebec’s construction-industry regulator, the Régie du bâtiment du Québec (the “RBQ”) has increasingly been seeking penal sanctions against contractors for false statements made to the RBQ when applying for, renewing or modifying their contractor’s licences. Have you reviewed your completed form before sending it to the RBQ?

Diversity and the equal representation of men and women on corporate boards of directors are of increasing interest to investors, Canadian financial-market regulators and the general population.

In the matter of Commission des normes du travail v. Compagnie d’assurances Standard Life du Canada, the Court of Québec had to decide whether an employer could file a counterclaim against an employee in proceedings in which Quebec’s Labour Standards Commission (the “Commission”) was suing the employer on behalf of the employee. It should be noted that the majority of the Court’ of Québec’s previous decisions were to the effect that it could not, despite the fact that the Court of Appeal had previously suggested that an employer could do so.

In the matter of Athena Energy Marketing Inc. v. 9080-9211 Québec Inc., the Superior Court of Quebec dealt with the issue of how to characterize the legal nature of a contract for the supply of natural gas by a private supplier . After analyzing the specifics of the contractual relationship, the Court concluded that the agreement between the parties was a contract of sale rather than a contract of enterprise or services contract.

In its 2013 decision in Asphalte Desjardins Inc. v. Commission des normes du travail, the Québec Court of Appeal held that an employer had the right to waive the benefit of the notice of termination period given by an employee who intended to resign.