January 04, 2021

Author: Owen Bird

Owen Bird Law Corporation is pleased to announce that Tony Anderson and Brian Cheng became shareholders of the firm effective January 1, 2021. Tony and Brian have made significant contributions to Owen Bird and its clients during their years as associates.

Tony practices in the areas of corporate and commercial law. He has broad experience in representing lenders and borrowers on secured debt financings, construction lending, asset‑based lending, lease financing, acquisition and merger financing, loan syndications and standard operating and term credit facilities.

Brian Cheng is a member of our Litigation Group with a focus on commercial litigation and insurance defence….

November 12, 2020

Author: Owen Bird

Owen Bird is delighted to announce that Heather Frydenlund has joined our firm as the newest member of our Litigation Law Group. Heather is an associate lawyer with a practice focused primarily on Insolvency and Restructuring Law and Administrative Law.

Heather obtained her Bachelor’s Degree, Economics and Psychology (Double Major) from Simon Fraser University. She then attended the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law and obtained her Juris Doctor in 2015. Heather was called to the Alberta Bar in 2016 and has been employed as an associate at Parlee McLaws LLP in Edmonton, Alberta for the last 5 years. Heather…

October 15, 2020

Authors: Jennifer Williams, Tony Anderson, Lucky Johal

Some good news for commercial tenants: the red tape which plagued the Canadian Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) program has been reduced in favor of an easy-to-access application process that replaces the system of numerous prescribed documents required under CECRA.

On October 9, the Federal Government announced details regarding relief to commercial tenants who have experienced reduced revenues due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This new program will become the successor to the CECRA program originally announced in May of this year and officially now concluded as of September 30, 2020.

In its place, the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) will…

October 13, 2020

Authors: Jennifer Williams, Tony Anderson, Lucky Johal

It was recently announced that much anticipated Land Owner Transparency Registry (the “Registry”) will become effective as of November 30, 2020 (the “Effective Date”) with the Province approving Order in Council No. 549, bringing into force almost all provisions of the governing legislation: the Land Owner Transparency Act (the “Act”).

The purpose of the Act is to mandate reporting for indirect ownership of land in the Province which shall be maintained in the Registry and publicly accessible. Prior to the Effective Date, only legal ownership of lands was recorded which meant that disclosure of ownership began and ended at the…

September 08, 2020

Author: Gregory Tucker

Business Interruption. Impact of COVID-19

August 04, 2020

Author: Owen Bird

Owen Bird estate litigator James Zaitsoff was recently successful in the Court of Appeal in Bergler v. Odenthal 2020 BCCA 175.  In Bergler, the B.C. Court of Appeal upheld a trial decision which held that a secret trust existed, with the result that the person who would have received all of the deceased’s assets on an intestacy actually held the assets in trust for another person (our client).

James was invited to provide his case comments in the July 2020 edition of Take Five, a monthly publication highlighting the most interesting civil cases emerging from the B.C….

July 02, 2020

Author: Georgia Barnard

We previously reported on how the Government of British Columbia responded to COVID-19 by temporarily allowing the remote execution of Wills, setting out the requirements for doing so in a ministerial order that is only applicable so long as the Provincial State of Emergency is in effect (see our previous blog post of June 17, 2020).

We are pleased to advise that the Government of British Columbia introduced legislation last week to make remote execution of Wills a permanent fixture in this province.

If it passes, Bill 21 – 2020 will amend the Wills, Estates, and Succession Act,…

June 30, 2020

Authors: Jennifer Williams, Tony Anderson, Lucky Johal

The federal government has just announced the extension the Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) Program to cover the month of July. This extends the Program’s eligibility by one month beyond the original three months of April, May and June

As per our previous blog posts, the CECRA Program offers forgivable loans to qualifying small businesses (those that have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic) who lease commercial space from qualifying landlords. Ultimately, the federal and provincial governments will cover 50% of the gross rent, the eligible tenant would pay 25% and the landlord would forgo the remaining 25%.

Although…

June 17, 2020

Author: Owen Bird

The Government of British Columbia intends to amend the Business Corporations Act (“BCBCA”) to include a new type of company – a benefit company. This amendment is set to take place on June 30, 2020.

A benefit company is a for-profit corporation that dedicates itself to conducting responsible and sustainable business and to promoting a public benefit(s). A public benefit includes any activity that positively impacts a group outside of the corporation’s shareholders. For example, an educational group, the local community, the environment, or a charitable organization. A list of possible ‘public benefit’ activities can be found here.

Benefit…