Market Report Canada: New Trudeau government’s about-face – Corporate Counsel

Jan 27, 2016

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led Canada to Liberal leadership for the first time after nearly 10 years of Conservative leadership by the Harper government, he won by a landslide. During his victory speech, Trudeau said Canadians sent a clear message that it’s time for change and he has already made good on promises to bring diversity to his cabinet and welcome Syrian refugees.

Many other changes will not be articulated until at least February, when Trudeau is expected to outline his proposal for a new federal budget. Until then, Canadian legal teams can try to anticipate the changes in policy by reviewing the promises made during the campaign. Areas of interest to many include infrastructure, taxation, intellectual property, energy and renewable resources.  

Steven Smith, Osler’s National Co-chair, spoke with the American magazine Corporate Counsel regarding the potential policy changes facing legal departments and in-house counsel under Trudeau’s leadership of Canada.

In addition to the promise to spend billions to improve infrastructure across the country, the Liberal campaign platform included changes to taxation laws, including measures that will affect the stock of publicly traded companies.

“For industries particularly like emerging companies and tech companies that rely on stock options as part of their compensation plan, it's going to be a change. Everybody who has stock options is sitting there going: Is this for new options? Or, if I exercise mine now, do I get caught with the tax? What year? What exactly are they going to do? How much am I going to pay? That's got people's attention," says Steven.

Given the Liberal government’s interest in environmental leadership, energy and renewable resources is expected to be another area impacted by changes.

"Almost all of the industries that produce pollutants will be affected. Whatever the time frame is—10 years, 20 years—it's going to be additional costs for those industries to comply [with environmental initiatives]. If you're working at a bank, you're probably not going to be worried about that, but if you're running an oil field, you're going to be worried about it. If you're running a steel company, it's one of those things to keep an eye on," says Steven.


If you subscribe to Corporate Counsel online, you can learn more about the types of regulatory changes to anticipate under the new Liberal government by reading Stephanie Forshee’s article, “Market Report Canada: New Trudeau Government’s About-Face,” January 5, 2016.