Desjardins Financial Security Services Inc. has been fined $200,000 and costs of $25,000 following a settlement agreement reached with the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada over its failure to conduct a reasonable supervisory investigation on one of its former representatives who misappropriated $3.7 million from several clients.
Business
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Desjardins Financial Security Services fined $200,000 by regulator
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UN panel calls on Canada to appoint extractive sector ombudsperson
An independent, well-resourced office for an ombudsperson that can investigate allegations and enforce orders on Canadian extractives’ overseas operations should be established by the federal government to provide effective remedies in a timely and inexpensive manner, recommends a United Nations working group on business and human rights. -
Federal and provincial governments need to demonstrate “stronger engagement” towards duty to consult, says UN panel
Federal and provincial governments “need” to demonstrate a “stronger engagement” towards conducting meaningful consultations with indigenous communities, according to a United Nations working group on business and human rights.
The duty to consult takes on added weight given that extensive mining and oil and gas extraction in several indigenous territories is “accompanied” by significant adverse environment impacts that affect the right to health, added the UN panel.
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UN Working Group calls on Canada to do more to address human rights abroad
A United Nations working group on business and human rights is calling on federal and provincial governments as well as industry associations and companies to bolster their efforts to prevent and address “adverse human rights impacts” of business activities in Canada and abroad.
The UN panel lauded the federal government for undertaking some initiatives to deal with business and human rights, particularly in the extractive sector, but underscored that it could do much more.
“We believe that there is greater room for both federal and provincial governments, industry associations and companies, to consider their activities both domestically and overseas through a human rights lens, using the UN Guiding Principles (on business and human rights) as a baseline to assess corporate respect for human rights,” said the panel in its statement.
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Four charged with lobbying offenses
A week after the Quebec Lobbyists’ Commissioner implored the provincial government to strengthen, expand and simplify the province’s lobby laws, and on the eve of his retirement, four lobbyists were charged with infringing the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act.Tags: lobbying -
Quebec lobbyists commissioner appeals for tougher legislation
Talk is cheap.So says François Casgrain, Quebec’s lobbyists commissioner, who will be retiring by the end of the month after an eight-year term due to health reasons.
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Business heaves sigh of relief as federal government suspends controversial private right of action provision in anti-spam law
Canada’s business community has just heaved a huge sigh of relief.The federal government issued an Order in Council that suspends the controversial implementation of the private right of action under Canada’s Anti-Spam legislation (CASL) until the completion of a parliamentary review due to “broad-based concerns” raised by businesses, charities and the not-for-profit sector.
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Ottawa tech firms not guilty of bid-rigging
A group of Ottawa-based technology providers were found not guilty of 60 charges of bid-rigging and conspiracy to rig bids by a jury after an eight-month criminal trial in a case that provides guidance and brings greater clarity over the reach of Canadian bid-rigging laws. -
Monetizing data, without consent
You can still download the application if you want. But if you believe what Kyle Zak has to say about it, it’s not something you would do. Not unless you don’t mind the trade-off between ease-of-use and the reams of information you will allegedly provide to the popular audio maker Bose Corp. -
Auto parts maker fined $13.4 million for bid-rigging offenses
In the second-largest fine ever ordered by a court in Canada for bid-rigging offenses, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice fined Mitsubishi Electric Corp. $13.4 million after it plead guilty to three counts of bid-rigging for participating in an international conspiracy, capping a fine week by the Competition Bureau. -
Hydro-Québec wins back-to-back legal skirmishes in longstanding energy dispute over Churchill Falls
Newfoundland and Labrador suffered back-to-back legal setbacks in its long-running energy feud with Hydro-Québec after Quebec courts held that the provincially-owned utility was under no obligation to renegotiate a controversial 1969 agreement and that it was entitled to purchase all but a fraction of the power generated by Churchill Falls power plant. (more…) -
Court certifies class action regarding misclassification of lawyers as independent contractors
In a decision that underlines the changing employment landscape, a class action against Deloitte LLP involving document reviewers has been certified by an Ontario court. -
Nearly $8.8 million in monetary sanctions imposed in 2016 for Quebec securities offenses
When Judge Réna Émond of the Court of Québec imposed just before the Christmas holidays fines totaling $120,000 on Danny Gagné and ISpeedzone Inc. for illegal practice as a securities dealer, it wrapped up a good year for Quebec’s financial watchdog.Nearly $8.8 million in fines and administrative penalties were imposed on 158 individuals and firms in 2016 for various offences under laws administered by the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), according to the latest enforcement report by the regulator. Of the $8.8 million in total monetary sanctions, $7.6 million involved securities or derivatives laws violations, with another $1 million stemming from Quebec’s Distribution Act. The report reveals that 15 offenders did more than 11,000 hours of compensatory work, with one offender choosing to pay his fines through a prison sentence of 729 days.
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Transports Quebec ordered to pay $1.6 million to subcontractor
The Quebec Ministry of Transport was ordered to pay a subcontractor $1.6 million for roadwork even though it had shown signs of premature wear and tear after the Quebec Court of Appeal held that the subcontractor did not face a warranty of durability.In a ruling that provides guidance over contractual notions such as obligation of result, performance of work and warranty of durability, the Quebec appeal court reaffirms a contractor’s positive obligation to provide information to third parties, according to experts in contract and construction law.
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Quebec administrative justice paralyzed by strike
The longest Canadian strike by public civil servants came to an abrupt end after the Quebec government passed a special law that compelled striking government lawyers and notaries back-to-work following a labour conflict that paralyzed the province’s administrative justice system and incapacitated the government’s efforts to pass legislation and enact regulations.
