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Finance and Accounting

By | 3 Minutes Read

Emergency response under the EMS and director and officer liability

Emergency preparedness and response plans are critical components of an environmental management system (EMS), partly because directors and officers could be liable for any negative environmental impact or effects arising from the organization's activities, products, or services.

By | 8 Minutes Read

Accepting cryptocurrency for donations or payments can be quite risky for Canadian charities unless you know what you are doing

Cryptocurrency has been in the news now for many years. While cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum etc. have received a lot of attention, in my anecdotal experience, very little money has been provided to Canadian charities through cryptocurrency.

By | 5 Minutes Read

The Supreme Court of Canada clarifies the duty to exercise contractual discretion in good faith

duty of good faith

On February 5, 2021, the Supreme Court of Canada released its judgment in Wastech Services Ltd. v. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District.[1] Wastech clarifies the nature and scope of the duty to exercise discretionary contractual powers in good faith. The appeal was heard together with C.M. Callow Inc. v. Zollinger[2] (see our earlier blog post), which clarified the duty of honest performance established in Bhasin v. Hrynew[3] (see our earlier blog post).

What you need to know

Wastech holds that:

  1. Contracting parties have a duty to exercise contractual discretion in good faith.[4] This duty “operates in every contract irrespective of the intentions of the parties”.[5]
     
  2. The duty requires parties to exercise their contractual discretion “in a manner consistent with the purposes for which it was granted in the contract” — i.e., “reasonably”.[6] This duty can be breached
… Continue reading “The Supreme Court of Canada clarifies the duty to exercise contractual discretion in good faith”

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