Company and Finance News:

Registration Requirements under the New British Columbia
Societies Act for Extraprovincial Non-Share Corporations
Under the new British Columbia Societies Act (the "New Act"), which is set to come into force on November 28, 2016, a non-share corporation registered outside of British Columbia that conducts activities in British Columbia (an "Extraprovincial Non-Share Corporation") must register in British Columbia within 60 days after beginning to carry on activities in British Columbia. An Extraprovincial Non-Share Corporation that is already registered in British Columbia prior to the New Act coming into force will be deemed to be registered under the New Act once in force unless its registration is cancelled under the New Act. An Extraprovincial Non-Share Corporation that was not registered in British Columbia immediately before the New Act comes into force must be registered in British Columbia by November 28, 2018 if it carries on activities in British Columbia. Read the full article by Tamara G. Wong of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP.

BCSC Issues Guidance on Trade Reporting and
Product Determination Rules
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has advised market participants that Multilateral Instrument 91-101 Derivatives: Product Determination and Multilateral Instrument 96-101 Trade Repositories and Derivatives Data Reporting (MI 96-101) as well as amendments to MI 96-101 are targeted to come into force before July 29, 2016, subject to obtaining necessary governmental approvals. That is also the date when mandatory trade reporting begins for clearing agencies and derivatives dealers in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Yukon. The BCSC has advised clearing agencies and derivatives dealers that the onboarding process with trade repositories may take several weeks to complete. Read the full article published on the Stikeman Elliott LLP website. 

BC Securities – Policies & Instruments
The following policies and instruments were published on the BCSC website in the month of June:

• 24-102 – CSA Notice of Changes to Companion Policy 24-102 Clearing Agency Requirements
  This notice provides notification of changes to Companion Policy 24-102 Clearing Agency Requirements. The changes to the companion policy provide additional guidance on requirements for clearing agencies, including guidance relating to the key components of clearing agency recovery plans.
• BCN 2016-05 Participant obligations under Multilateral Instrument 91-101 Derivatives: Product Determination and Multilateral Instrument 96-101 Trade Repositories and Derivatives Data Reporting
• 11-330 – CSA Staff Notice 11-330 Notice of Local Amendments – Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Québec, Ontario and Saskatchewan
  This Notice identifies the relevant local amendments to National Instrument 45-102 Resale of Securities and National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions that affect activity only in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec and Saskatchewan.
• 11-102 – Adoption of Amendments to Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System and new Multilateral Instrument 11-103 Failure-to-File Cease Trade Orders in Multiple Jurisdictions
• 23-316 – CSA Staff Notice 23-316 – Order Protection Rule: Implementation of the Market Share Threshold and Amendments to Companion Policy 23-101 Trading Rules
• 21-318 – CSA Staff Notice 21-318 – Information Processor for Corporate Debt Securities

For more information visit the BC Securities website.

Energy and Mines News:

Canadian LNG from a Global Perspective
The next several months are set to be an important period for Canada's nascent liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry. After nearly half a decade of project announcements, commercial development, increasing press coverage and often intense political debate, it is expected that the remainder of 2016 could see one or more of the country's first affirmative LNG final investment decisions. The stakes are considerable. In the event a significant amount of liquefaction capacity is approved, Canada could become an important player on the global LNG stage. By contrast, should the industry stall, it could be a decade or more before the next meaningful LNG development "window" opens for the country. On what basis then, are such final investment decisions being made – in what context and according to what considerations? Or perhaps more poignantly, how does Canada's LNG industry compare with its international counterparts; which final investment decision considerations are applicable to the LNG industry in general and which may be considered more endemic to Canada? Read the full article by Michael Laffin and Paul Blyschak of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP and published on the Lexology website.

Two BC Wind Farm Projects Halted with
Huge Site C Dam in Wings
Publicly traded Northland Power has withdrawn two wind projects from BC's environmental approval process, officially halting proposals that had been dormant for several years as the Site C hydroelectric dam puts a chill on renewable energy projects. The proposals – for Mount George Wind Park, a 300-megawatt wind farm 38 kilometres southeast of Prince George, and Mount Kathleen Wind Park, a 250-megawatt wind farm near Summerland – were officially withdrawn last week, following correspondence between BC's Environmental Assessment Office and Northland about lack of activity on both projects. The withdrawals highlight challenges faced by would-be renewable energy developers in BC now that Site C is in the wings, says Vancouver energy lawyer David Austin. Site C is a multibillion-dollar hydroelectricity project now under construction on the Peace River. Read The Globe and Mail article. 

Family and Children News:

Dealing with Child Support Issues when
One Parent Lives outside BC
Suppose you live in BC and need a court order for child or spousal support but the other parent lives in another province or country. How do you get it? British Columbia has made agreements with all the Canadian provinces and territories and several foreign countries to recognize each other's child and spousal support orders and agreements. The BC Ministry of Justice Family Justice website provides Interjurisdictional Support Order (ISO) forms online. The site guides you to the right forms; you fill them out and mail them with supporting documents to an office in Vancouver. The ISO office then takes care of sending the necessary information to the other province or country. There, the other parent appears in court and an order can be made without your having to attend. But what if one parent lives in Saskatchewan, has an order for child or spousal support under provincial legislation, wants to change it, and the other parent has moved to British Columbia? BC's Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act (ISO) established a process for doing that as well. Unfortunately, the process was very long and involved. Read the full article published on the Provincial Court of British Columbia website. 

Legislation Comes into Force to Regulate E-cigarettes
New laws around the sale, promotion and use of e-cigarettes will come into effect on Sept. 1, 2016. The Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act is designed to protect youth from the unknown effects of e-cigarette vapour and from becoming addicted to nicotine, which is why it will treat e-cigarette use exactly the same as tobacco, with the same bans and restrictions. There are no restrictions on adults buying e-cigarettes. The Tobacco and Vapour Products Control Act was introduced as an amendment in spring 2015 to help stop the growing use of e-cigarettes by young people in British Columbia. Prevalence of e-cigarette use is highest among young people: one in five youth in Canada have tried an e-cigarette. The act as amended requires retailers to ensure e-cigarettes are sold only to adults aged 19 and above, and to ensure that no retail displays are targeted to youth. As well, there should be no retail advertising for e-cigarettes shown where youth can see it. In addition, an exception on the indoor use restriction was made so that a small number of customers in adult-only stores could learn how to use vapour products or to test products that they wish to buy. Read the full government news release. 

BC Critics of Canada's Assisted Dying Laws to
Launch New Court Challenge
Just days after Canada's physician-assisted dying law came into force, a 25-year-old British Columbia woman with a degenerative muscle disease is challenging it in court. Julia Lamb who lives in Chilliwack has spinal muscular atrophy and worries her body will weaken and she will be left in a state of intolerable suffering because she doesn't qualify for doctor-assisted death under the new law."My biggest fear is that if my condition suddenly gets much worse, which could happen any day, I will become trapped," she told a news conference on Monday [June 27^th]. "I feel a shadow looming over me. I know I could lose the ability to breathe well enough on my own and require a ventilator, which could affect my ability to speak." Lamb was diagnosed with the muscle disease at 16 months and required a wheelchair at age six, but she said she has lived a fulfilling life with a loving family and enjoys her part-time job as a marketing assistant. The Liberal government's Bill C-14 received royal assent on June 17. Lamb said she opposes the law's requirements that a doctor's help can only be given if death is reasonably foreseeable and the patient is in an advanced state of irreversible decline. "If my suffering becomes intolerable I would like to make the final choice about how much suffering to endure," said Lamb, who has joined the B.C. Civil Liberties Association to file a constitutional challenge in B.C. Supreme Court. Read The Vancouver Sun article. 

Local Government News:

Court Clarifies Authority to Require Geotechnical
Reports for Hazardous Lands
Section 56 of the Community Charter, which applies not only to municipalities, but also to regional districts by virtue of section 302 of the Local Government Act, has been given some helpful interpretation by a recent decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. In Compagna v. Nanaimo (City), 2016 BCSC 1045, the court concluded that while the language of section 56 is broad enough to permit a building inspector to consider, and potentially rely upon a geotechnical report previously prepared for another purpose, such as an application for subdivision, it does not require the building inspector to do so. By way of background, section 56 provides authority for a building inspector to deal with hazardous conditions, namely flooding, mud flows, debris flows, debris torrents, erosion, land slip, rockfalls, subsidence, or avalanche. Where such a hazardous condition exists, a building inspector may require the applicant to provide a geotechnical report prepared by a qualified engineer. If the report concludes the land cannot be used safely for the use intended, the building inspector cannot issue a building permit. If the report concludes that the land may be used safely for the use intended in accordance with the conditions specified in the report, then the permit can be issued, but only if a covenant under section 219 of the Land Title Act is registered against title to the land, securing the owner's promise to abide by the conditions of the report, and to reimburse the local government for any expenses resulting from the owner's breach of the covenant. Read the full article by Michael Hargraves of Stewart McDannold Stuart. 

Liquor Policy Working Group Update
On June 23, 2016, the Local Government Working Group on Liquor Policy, co-chaired by UBCM and the Province, met to discuss recent changes in provincial liquor policy, the provincial timeline for implementation of all Liquor Policy Review recommendations, and upcoming opportunities for local government input. The Local Government Working Group on Liquor Policy is the forum created for consultation and communication between the Province and local governments with respect to changes in liquor policy. Since the release of the Liquor Policy Review Final Report in January 2014, the Province has implemented 42 of the 73 recommendations included in the report, which seeks to modernize liquor laws in British Columbia. For the reference of UBCM members, the Working Group's discussions are summarized below. Read the full UBCM news release. 

New Rules to Cut the Stench from Compost Facilities
British Columbia's environment ministry has announced a permit system to better control composting facilities that process food waste and biosolids. The move, which will require permits for composting facilities, comes after complaints against some facilities, including in east Richmond where city officials want more stringent air-quality regulations to control the stink from the region's composting plant. Harvest Power is seeking to renew its Metro Vancouver air permit after generating odour complaints from neighbours last year while processing 200,000 tonnes of food and green waste. The ministry said a permitting process will increase transparency and make it easier to monitor compliance. Facilities with capacity to produce over 5,000 tonnes of compost per year have 60 days to apply for a permit and pay the one-time $200 application fee. Once a permit is approved, there is an additional $100 annual fee for permitted facilities. If operators fail to apply for a permit within 60 days or fail to comply with permit conditions, enforcement action may be taken under the Environmental Management Act, the ministry said. Read The Vancouver Sun article. 

Miscellaneous News:

Upcoming Amendments to British Columbia's
Costs Rules: An Update
This is a brief update on the original article published in our April 7, 2016 issue titled "Is it Going to Cost You More? Upcoming Amendments to British Columbia's Costs Rules". On March 31, 2016, the Attorney General of British Columbia bowed to concerns from ICBC, the province's public auto insurer, and rescinded the amendments to the costs tariff and fees that were to come into force on July 1, 2016. This was a controversial decision by the government which came as a complete surprise to the plaintiff's bar and caused BC Supreme Court justices and senior lawyers to quit an important advisory committee, which had been tasked with recommending changes to the tariffs and the calculation of the approved expenses incurred during litigation. It appears that ICBC raised concerns that these changes could increase the cost to defend motorists and could have an impact on everyone's insurance rates. Read the full article by Fareeha Qaiser of Miller Thomson. 

Practice Direction – Consent Order to Dispense with Trial Management
Conference in Civil Cases – July 1, 2016
PD-51 – Consent Order to Dispense with Trial Management Conferences in Civil Cases, has been issued by Chief Justice Hinkson and will take effect on July 1, 2016 to coincide with amendments to Civil Rule 12-2 dealing with trial management conferences which also take effect on July 1 2016. PD-51 sets out some administrative requirements which must be observed on desk order applications to dispense with a TMC. PD-51 requires that such applications be e-filed, and that an email advice be sent to an dedicated inbox managed by Supreme Court Scheduling. This will allow such applications to be segregated from other incoming desk order applications, and dealt with on the quick turnaround that the time limits of the TMC rule will require. The judge or master reviewing the application may make the order to dispense with the TMC if satisfied that the matter is ready to proceed to trial and can be completed within the time reserved for it. Source: Supreme Court of British Columbia. 

Cycling Group Pushes for "One Metre Law"
in BC – Motor Vehicle Act
How much space do you leave between you and cyclists when you're behind the wheel? Police in Ottawa are using what is basically a sonar-equipped bike to let drivers know if they've come too close, breaking a recently passed law requiring one metre of room between their vehicles and any cyclists they pass. For now, officers have been using it as an educational tool, letting drivers off with a warning. But in Metro Vancouver, Erin O'Melinn with the advocacy group HUB Cycling says it is high time BC also brought in a "one metre" law. Read the News1130 article.

Crash Rates Increase at Nearly Half of BC Highway
Zones with Raised Speed Limits
Collision rates increased in nearly half of the 33 highway zones where the BC government raised speed limits two years ago – and the number of serious and fatal crashes increased by 11 per cent. But the province says it will roll back the speed limit for just two zones where the crash rate went up, relying instead on measures such as improved road markings, better signage and new rumble strips for the rest. The BC government increased speed limits along the stretches of highway in 2014 – generally by 10 kilometres per hour, and against the recommendations of some health officials and police. Transportation Minister Todd Stone, who announced the new measures [recently], noted crash rates went down or were unchanged in 19 of those areas. When asked whether the government erred in raising speed limits, he replied: "Not at all." But at the same time, he said the province wants to do everything it can to mitigate risks to the motoring public and is carefully studying the data. Read The Globe And Mail article. 

CVSE Bulletins & Notices
A number of important bulletins and notices have been posted by CVSE in June. These include:

• Notice 2016-003 – Provincial Sales Tax (PST) Notice: Notice to Vehicle Services and Parts Providers Multijurisdictional Vehicles
• VI Bulletin 01-16 – Removable Vehicle Doors
• Circular 02-16 – Implementation of new 2016 Vehicle Inspection Manual
• VI Notice 01-16 – Release of 2016 Vehicle Inspection Manual (VIM)
• VI Notice 02-16 – Provisional timeframe for application of mud flap inspection standards

For more information on these and other items, visit the CVSE website.

Nothing Was Being Done to Stop Unscrupulous
Real Estate Practices, BC Finance Minister Says
The provincial government ended self regulation for the BC real estate industry because the evidence was pointing to the fact that the industry wasn't regulating itself, says BC's finance minister. On June 30, the government announced that the right to regulate the industry would be taken away from the Real Estate Council of BC and put into the hands of a newly established and dedicated superintendent of real estate. The announcement came a day after a special advisory group issued a damning report with 28 recommendations for how the council should improve its oversight ability – but the panel was not asked to consider independent regulation. Read the CBC article. 

In Tight Housing Market, BC Landlords
Dodge Rent Laws with Fixed-Tenancy
As renters compete for sparse and expensive housing, landlords are increasingly using a type of tenancy agreement that allows them to circumvent British Columbia's 2.9% annual rental increase limit. Under a fixed-term rental agreement, the renter and the landlord sign a clause agreeing that the rental term will be for a certain time period, usually one year. At the end of the period, the renter agrees to vacate the unit. If the renter wants to stay, he or she must negotiate a whole new lease – which can include a big spike in rent. "Landlords can get around the cap by getting new tenants in and raising rent," said Andrew Sakamoto, executive director of the Tenants Resource Advisory Centre (TRAC). "That's why rent has escalated so much in recent years." The City of Vancouver has been offering incentives to developers to build new rental, but does not prohibit fixed-term tenancies in those buildings: city staff said that would require action from the provincial Residential Tenancy Branch. Read the full article in Business in Vancouver. 

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire: Arguments Ignite over
Banning Smoking in BC's Multi-unit Buildings
Paul Aradi began smoking half a century ago and had become accustomed to enjoying a cigarette in his Langley condo. That is, until his strata council banned the practice in 2009. "They're harassing me all the time and bullying," the 71-year-old veteran said of the ban. "I'm not interfering with everybody's life, so why do people have a right to interfere in my life? Because they get more pollution when they walk in the street or whatever." Aradi, who served as a peacekeeper in Cyprus, refused to give up smoking inside and eventually racked up $2,300 in fines. He's filed a complaint about the ban with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, but earlier this year, a judge ordered Aradi to comply with the bylaw and smoke outside the building. Aradi's waiting for triple bypass surgery, and says the walk outside to the street is too difficult for him, so he's been forced to give up cigarettes instead. In the meantime, health advocates are hoping more apartment landlords and strata councils will follow the no-smoking example of Aradi's complex. Read The Province article. 

Third-anniversary Update of the Strata Property Law –
Phase Two Project (BCLI)
BCLI officially started Phase Two of the Strata Property Law Project on 4 July 2013. This post is a review of the highlights of the project's first three years. The early years of the project were focused on terminating a strata. In 2014, the committee published its Consultation Paper on Terminating a Strata (PDF). This consultation paper garnered one of the highest levels of public response of any of BCLI's law-reform consultations. These responses were taken into account in the committee's Report on Terminating a Strata (PDF), which was published in early 2015. The report's key recommendations were: (1) the voting threshold for voluntary termination of strata should be lowered from unanimous consent to 80 percent of all eligible voters; and (2) to protect the interests of any dissenting owners or registered chargeholders, the strata corporation should be required to obtain an order from the supreme court, confirming that termination is in its best interests. Read the full article published on the BCLI website. 

Wills and Estates News:

Requirement that Bare Trusts be Disclosed
on Property Transfer Tax Returns
– by Stan Rule
The Government of British Columbia has amended the Property Transfer Tax Return to require more information on the purchase of land, effective June 10, 2016. The requirement that a purchaser who is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident identify his or her citizenship has received some press coverage. Although I don't like it at all, I am writing about another change: the requirement that the person taking title disclose whether he or she, or it (if a corporation) holds the title in a bare trust. The question on the Property Transfer Tax Return is "Is this a transfer of a bare trust?" I am not sure how one transfers a bare trust, but the question is intended to elicit whether the person acquiring title will hold title as a bare trustee. To hold land in a bare trust means that although you have title, you hold it for someone else, who is the true owner. Because the title holder has no management powers and is subject to the direction of the true owner, the title holder is an agent of the owner (rather than a trustee in the sense I often write about with significant powers and responsibilities). Read the full article by Stan Rule of Sabey Rule LLP. 

Independent Legal Advice and Undue Influence
Under normal circumstances independent legal advice, if properly given should be sufficient to rebut any presumption of undue influence, but that was not the case in Cowper-Smith v Morgan, 2016 BCCA 200, where the Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge in finding inter alia, that the independent legal advice provided was inadequate to rebut the presumption of undue influence. The case should stand as a wake-up call to any practitioners dispensing independent legal advice that it must be thorough and relevant to the assessment of the question or issue before them, and to take the time and charge accordingly. Failing to do so may expose professional liability by disappointed beneficiaries. Read the full article by lawyer Trevor Todd and published on his site: Disinherited – Estate Disputes and Contested Wills. 

Wong v. Chong Estate
The law with respect to joint tenancy in British Columbia is nuanced. The basic idea is that if property is held in a joint tenancy between two people, on the death of one, the title passes to the survivor. But if one of the joint tenants gratuitously transferred the property into a joint tenancy or paid the purchase price to buy the property but puts title in a joint tenancy, then there is a presumption that the other joint tenant holds his or her interest in trust for the person who transferred the property or paid for it. This presumption, called a presumption or resulting trust, is a presumption only, which may be rebutted by evidence that the person who paid for the property intended a gift. When the parties are married spouses, there is a different presumption that the person who paid for the property intended a gift. But it really comes down to what the court finds what the intention was of the person who paid for the property at the time he or she purchased it, or in the case of a transfer, the time of the transfer. But here's where it gets more nuanced. Supposing one person buys property and puts title into a joint tenancy with another person, intending to retain control of the property during his or her lifetime, but that on death, the survivor will be entitled to the benefit of the property. In such a case, what if the joint tenancy is severed? Read the full article by Stan Rule of Sabey Rule LLP.