Publications
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Construction: An unwarranted contestation may be considered an abuse of procedure
In the decision in 9058-4004 Québec inc. c. 9337-9907 Québec inc.1 rendered on October 21, 2022, the court granted compensation to a subcontractor for its extrajudicial fees further to a general contractor’s unfounded contestation of its claim as part of a hypothecary action. The facts In (…)
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Bill 37: What changes can be expected for Public Contracts?
On September 18, 2019, the Minister Responsible for Government Administration and Chair of the Conseil du trésor introduced Bill 37, An Act mainly to establish the Centre d’acquisitions gouvernementales et Infrastructures technologiques Québec1 As its name suggests, this bill is intended to (…)
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How subcontractors or materials supplier can use the surety bond contract
That is what material suppliers want to know when general contractors with which they have contracted default on payment, particularly in bankruptcy cases. It is common practice for clients to require that the general contractor provide a surety bond to cover a significant breach of this nature. (…)
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The City of Montreal revises its by-law on contract management
Redefining and expanding the concept of conflict of interest, clarifying situations of “ineligibility to contract”, introducing a principle of supplier rotation, increasing the eligibility threshold for the award of a private contract. These are the main changes that the City of Montreal has made to (…)
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Builders’ Risk Insurance: Interpreting the Usual Faulty Workmanship and “LEG” Exclusions in connection with Ledcor and Acciona
Ledcor The issue in Ledcor1 was whether the builder’s risk policy taken out by the contractor that was contractually responsible for cleaning the windows of a building, covered damage to the windows caused by its poor cleaning work. The financial impact was significant since the cost of re-doing (…)
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Caron confirms that employers have a duty to accommodate workers with an employment injury
On February 1, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered an important decision in Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (“CNESST”) v. Caron1 (“Caron”), confirming the position expressed by the Court of Appeal in 20152 as well as the state of the law regarding (…)
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Bill 162: An Act to amend the Building Act and other legislative provisions mainly to give effect to certain Charbonneau Commission recommendations
Tabled on December 1, 2017 by Lise Thériault, the Minister responsible for Consumer Protection and Housing, the main purpose of Bill 162 is to give effect to certain recommendations contained in the final report of the Commission of inquiry on the awarding and management of public contracts in the (…)
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New developments regarding the criminal negligence of employers
On August 31, 2017, the Ontario Court of Justice sentenced1 Detour Gold Corporation (“Detour Gold”) to pay a fine of $2,625,333 after it pleaded guilty to a charge of criminal negligence causing the death of an employee. Facts Detour Gold has operated an open pit mine near the Ontario-Québec (…)
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Legislative amendments regarding conservation of wetlands and bodies of water: troubled waters for developers?
Bill 132 respecting the conservation of wetlands and bodies of water, passed unanimously by the National Assembly on June 16th of this year, is in keeping with the context of a significant modernization of environmental laws in Québec. Most of its provisions come into force immediately. Described (…)
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Latest developments in the Canadian infrastructure market / The Canada-Europe Free Trade Agreement: impacts on the infrastructure industry / Biomethanization: a fast-growing market in Québec
TABLE OF CONTENTS Latest developments in the Canadian market Fengate acquires a solar project portfolio from Canadian Solar TerraForm Power increases the financing of its Canadian solar power portfolio SaskPower launches a call for tenders for 200 MW of wind energy Boralex closes the (…)
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A bid’s nonconformity to the eligibility criteria set out in a call for tenders, such as minimum experience, constitutes a major irregularity
When it comes to presenting a bid in response to a call for tenders made by a public body, two major questions are of interest to businesses concerned, namely “What is the nature of the contract?” and “Does my business conform to the conditions of the call for tenders, for example, those concerning (…)
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A bid’s nonconformity to the eligibility criteria set out in a call for tenders, such as minimum experience, constitutes a major irregularity
When it comes to presenting a bid in response to a call for tenders made by a public body, two major questions are of interest to businesses concerned, namely “What is the nature of the contract?” and “Does my business conform to the conditions of the call for tenders, for example, those concerning (…)
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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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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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The latest news from the Canadian infrastructures market / Major trends in the infrastructures market for 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS The latest news from the Canadian infrastructures market Defense Construction Canada issues Request for Expressions of Interest for an energy performance contract Boralex completes financing of the Yellow Falls hydro project in Ontario Boralex and AWEC announce a new (…)
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October news on the Canadian infrastructure market
Creation of a Canadian infrastructure bank On October 20, 2016, the Advisory Council on Economic Growth published its report entitled “Unleashing Productivity Through Infrastructure”. One of the report’s recommendations is to create a Canadian Infrastructure Development Bank whose objective (…)
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Overview of the Canadian Public-Private Partnerships market
The Public-Private Partnership delivery model (“PPP” or “P3”) is now well established in Canada, where more than 177 of such projects were closed between 1993 and 2015 (source: InfraAmericas). The great majority thereof (166) have been closed since 2004, and the current trend indicates the number (…)
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Renewable energies: the trend is toward hybrid financing
For about two years now, most renewable energy projects, particularly wind farm projects, have been financed using a so-called “hybrid” model, i.e. a combination of medium-term bank debt and long-term financing or private placements. The term “hybrid” is derived from the vocabulary of the (…)
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An obiter of the Québec Court of Appeal makes its way up to the Supreme Court of Canada
The facts The client, Station Lands Ltd. (“Station”) retained the general contractor Ledcor Construction Ltd. (“Ledcor”) to build the Epcor tower in Edmonton. As is customary, Station and Ledcor purchased a builders’ risk all-risk property insurance to cover property damage which may occur in the (…)
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Licence security requirements to be hiked shortly
Effective September 18, 2016, anyone wishing to obtain a general contractor licence will be required to first provide security of at least $40,000. The amount will be $20,000 for specialized contractors. Effective January 21, 2017, the Regulation to amend the Regulation respecting the professional (…)
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Contracts by public entities: stay tuned on June 1, 2016
The regulation governing contracts of public bodies leaps into the digital age. The amendments, passed on April 13, 2016, and coming into force June 1, 2016, aim to clarify the rules pertaining to the results evaluation.1 Five key changes Tenders in electronic form are mandatory if so (…)
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Contracting authorization from the AMF: reduction in threshold for service contracts
Last June 10, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced that the floor amount for obtaining a public contract dealing with services without its prior authorization would be reduced to $1 million.1 Thus, all contracts and subcontracts for services concluded following a call for tenders (…)
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A Heads-up on Asbestos!
To allow for adequate planning, the Quebec government phased in the coming into force of certain regulatory amendments on building safety that were adopted in the past few years. These new standards were previously discussed in bulletin Nos. 6 and 9, issued in April 2013 and June 2014 respectively, (…)
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Civil law interpretation : Does coverage under a builder’s risk insurance policy extend to an existing structure?
On February 19, 2015, the Court of Appeal of Quebec1 overturned a judgment rendered by the Superior Court2, on July 12, 2013, which granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Essentially, the Court had to determine whether coverage under a builder’s risk insurance policy extends to damage caused by (…)
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Builder’s risk insurance: Insurable interest and subrogation rights
I. Intact, compagnie d’assurances v. Théberge & Belley (1985) inc. and l’Union canadienne compagnie d’assurance and EBC inc.1 In this case, the Court of Appeal held that an insurer who indemnified its insured pursuant to “contractors’ equipment” coverage cannot exercise its subrogation rights (…)
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Cooling Towers and Asbestos: New Obligations for Owners, Tenants, Managers and Employers
Over the last year and half, the legislator has addressed the building safety issues in order to ensure the safety of the occupants and visitors of these buildings, as well as the persons who may be exposed to hazards because of equipment attached to such buildings.On March 18, 2013, the Regulation (…)
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Criminal negligence: The Court of Appeal of Ontario increases to $750 000 the fine imposed on Metron Construction Corp.
On September 4, 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered Metron Construction Corporation (“Metron”) to pay a fine in the amount of $750 000 for criminal negligence causing death.1 After Metron pled guilty to the offence, the trial judge ordered the company to pay a fine of $200 000. (…)
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Building Safety – New Onerous Obligations for Owners
On March 18, 2013, the Règlement visant à améliorer la sécurité dans le bâtiment, adopted pursuant to the Building Act, came into force. The new Regulation, which became chapter VIII of the Safety Code entitled “Building”, contains rules on fire safety and on maintenance of building facades and (…)
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Francization – Bill No 14 amending the Charter of the French language
This publication was authored by Luc Thibaudeau, former partner of Lavery and now judge in the Civil Division of the Court of Québec, District of Longueuil. The title of this newsletter gives a good summary of the explanatory notes that serve as an introduction to Bill 14, entitled An Act to amend (…)
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The Metron Construction Corp. Case: Another conviction for criminal negligence in the area of occupational health and safety
Since the adoption of Bill C-45 amending certain provisions of the Criminal Code in March of 2004, employers have had to take on increased responsibility in the area of occupational health and safety. Indeed, the effect of sections 22.1 and 217.1 of the Criminal Code is to facilitate the laying of (…)
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Changes to the obligations of a surety in the context of the restructuring of an insolvent construction company
In 2002, the Québec Court of Appeal acknowledged the importance of sureties in a dispute between a construction company and a supplier. The Court noted that the construction company's losses had been exacerbated by the withdrawal of its surety facility.More recently, the Québec Superior Court (…)
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Turnkey Contracts - the Client's Perspective
Turnkey Contracts - the Client's Perspective
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Fenêtres Magistral Windows inc. -vs- M. Sarto Blouin - The Revocation of the Striking off of Registration is Effective Retroactively
Fenêtres Magistral Windows inc. -vs- M. Sarto Blouin - The Revocation of the Striking off of Registration is Effective Retroactively
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Review of 1995 Judgments
Review of 1995 Judgments
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Conditions Attached to the Exercise of Rights Under New Indemnity Agreements
Conditions Attached to the Exercise of Rights Under New Indemnity Agreements
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A Look Back at Judgments in 1994
A Look Back at Judgments in 1994
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A Review of 1994 Jurisprudence in the Field of Construction Law
A Review of 1994 Jurisprudence in the Field of Construction Law
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Suretyship - Some Questions and Answers on the New Indemnity and Security Agreement
Suretyship - Some Questions and Answers on the New Indemnity and Security Agreement