The contracts that cause damage are the ones that looked fine.
Most Canadian contract problems are not obvious at signing. A termination clause that reads cleanly can be unenforceable in full. A non-compete copied from a US contract may be void by statute. And a document drafted for Ontario can read very differently under the Civil Code of Québec.
Termination clauses are read strictly
Canadian courts, especially in Ontario, scrutinise employment termination clauses closely. If a clause could in any scenario fall below the statutory minimums, courts have struck the whole clause and defaulted to far more generous common law notice. We draft termination language that actually holds.
Non-competes are limited, and often banned
Restrictive covenants are enforced only so far as they are reasonable, and Ontario’s Working for Workers Act prohibits most employee non-competes outright. We protect the business with confidentiality and non-solicitation clauses that hold, and keep any restraint within what the province allows.
Quebec is a different legal system
The Civil Code of Québec governs contracts in Quebec, with its own rules on formation, good faith, and interpretation, and French-language requirements apply to many contracts. A common law template does not simply transfer. We draft for the Quebec framework where it applies.
Privacy: PIPEDA, Law 25, and CASL
PIPEDA applies federally, Quebec’s Law 25 imposes stricter obligations, and several provinces have their own statutes. CASL governs commercial electronic messages. Your privacy policy, consent flows, and data terms have to match. We draft to the regimes that apply to you.
In Canada, a termination clause drafted loosely is not read loosely, it is often struck out entirely, and the common law fills the gap against you.