Limitations Law Blog

On June 5, 2020, the Lieutenant Governor in Council amended Ontario Regulation 73/20 (the “Suspension Order”), made under section 7.1 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”), which temporarily suspends limitation periods and other procedural deadlines.

There are four important amendments to the Suspension Order:

1. the duration of the Suspension Order is decoupled from the duration of the emergency declaration. This is a welcome amendment and addresses the need for predictability and notice. Indeed, further to our blog post of May 29, 2020, we had supported a going forward “delinking” of the Suspension Order from the duration of the state of emergency in order to remove the confusion arising from dual clocks when determining the expiry date of the suspension.

We have previously reported on the suspension of limitations periods and procedural deadlines in Ontario effective March 16, 2020 pursuant to Ontario Regulation 73/20, as amended (the “Suspension Order”) made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”). The Suspension Order is subject to limitations in its duration and scope, as discussed in our earlier posts, which are listed at this link.

With respect to duration, the Suspension Order will continue in effect until June 14, 2020, because:

• by its terms, the period of suspension under the Suspension Order is tied to the “duration of the emergency.”

Further to our article of March 27, 2020, Ontario Regulation 73/20 made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 does not apply to suspend deadlines or limitation periods under federal law. The Government of Canada has recently sought to retroactively fill that gap.

On May 19, 2020, the Government of Canada published draft legislative proposals which would temporarily suspend or extend certain time limits set out in federal legislation where the COVID-19 pandemic may make compliance difficult or impossible. The proposed statute would extend limitation periods in civil proceedings before the courts along with regulatory time limits.

Limitations periods and procedural deadlines in Ontario have been suspended since March 16, 2020 pursuant to Ontario Regulation 73/20 (the “Suspension Order”) made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”). The Suspension Order was amended on April 9, 2020 by Ontario Regulation 137/20 and on May 1, 2020 by Ontario Regulation 194/20 to deal with the application of the Suspension Order to three specific circumstances, including most notably a carve out for the Construction Act, RSO 1990, c C.30 and the regulations made under it effective from and after April 16, 2020.

Limitations periods and procedural deadlines in Ontario have been suspended since March 16, 2020 pursuant to Ontario Regulation 73/20 (the “Suspension Order”) made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”). The Suspension Order was amended on April 9, 2020 by Ontario Regulation 137/20 to create two carve-outs, including most notably effective from and after April 16, 2020 the Construction Act, RSO 1990, c C.30and the regulations made under it.

The Suspension Order is subject to limitations in its duration and scope, as discussed in our earlier post.