In Peace River Hydro Partners v. Petrowest Corp., the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) refused to stay a receiver’s civil lawsuit in favour of multiple arbitration proceedings, finding the arbitration agreements were made inoperative by court order to facilitate an orderly and single insolvency process. This case helps resolve a tension between the expedience of a single insolvency process and the presumptive enforceability of arbitration agreements. Factual Background Peace River subcontracted various Petrowest entities to…
In Agrium v. Orbis Engineering Field Services, the Alberta Court of Appeal held that parties can appeal a…
A. LEGISLATION AND RULES A.1 Legislation International arbitration in Canada is, for the most part, a matter of…
On June 10, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal a decision with implications for the enforceability of alternative dispute resolution clauses in insolvency proceedings in Canada. Background In Petrowest Corp. v. Peace River Hydro Partners, a receiver was appointed over Petrowest under Canada’s federal Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (“BIA”). In this case, the receiver later assigned the company into bankruptcy and was also acting as its bankruptcy trustee. The receiver/trustee commenced…
In Uber Technologies Inc. v. Heller, 2020 SCC 16 (“Uber v. Heller”) the Supreme Court of Canada upheld…
CANADA Matthew Latella and Christina Doria A. LEGISLATION AND RULES[1] A.1 Legislation International arbitration in Canada is, for…
CANADA Matthew Latella and Christina Doria A. LEGISLATION AND RULES A.1 Legislation International arbitration in Canada is, for the most part, a matter of provincial jurisdiction. Each province and territory has enacted legislation adopting the UNCITRAL Model Law, occasionally with slight variations, as the foundational law for international arbitration. Canada’s federal parliament has also adopted a commercial arbitration code based on the UNCITRAL Model Law, which is applicable when the federal government or one of…
In its first decision of 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned the lower court’s decision in…
When multiple international commercial arbitration proceedings are initiated between the same parties, does the court have jurisdiction to…
On September 30, 2018, the United States, Mexico and Canada (the Parties) reached an agreement to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new agreement is called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). As has been widely reported, the Parties conducted many months of negotiations to reach this agreement. It is important to note that the USMCA still has to be ratified by all the Parties. Until this ratification has taken place, the current…