Law Times

November 28, 2016

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Page 6 November 28, 2016 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com dated workf low, which allows us to provide more current information. You may notice some stylistic differences, but there are no major changes to the content. LT COMMENT ©2016 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or stored in a retrieval system without written per- mission. The opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily those of the publisher. Information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Law Times disclaims any warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or currency of the contents of this publication and disclaims all liability in respect of the results of any action taken or not taken in reli- ance upon information in this publication. Publications Mail Agreement Number 40762529 • ISSN 0847-5083 Law Times is published 40 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. 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Lawyer Marcus McCann's efforts to make the guidelines public is admirable — an endeavour that has its roots in grassroots advocacy. We live in an age where LGBT rights are mainstreamed in popular culture. It is easy to forget, then, how fast these rights can be eroded when discussion about how HIV non-disclosure is prosecuted is obscured behind a veil of unclear legalese, bureaucratic language or overall mystery. To be clear, in this case, it is not known what the province's draft guidelines say about prosecuting HIV non-disclosure cases. How- ever, the fact they were drafted with input from a program manager with the Sexual Health and Harm Reduction of the City of Hamilton is a good sign. The work to make these guidelines public is part of an overall push-and-pull to clarify the legal response to sensitive pol- itics around sex, and HIV non-disclosure in particular. Legislation and laws are by their nature reactive. Information sharing is a key principle of progressive public health. McCann's efforts seek to fill a void between the two. On an unrelated note, starting in this issue, Caselaw has an up- How to avoid getting Trumped I f Donald Trump rips up NAFTA and says "no" to China, expect some inter- esting twists in Canada. Trump promised earlier this year that he's going to alter the 1994 free trade deal with Canada and Mexico so Amer- ican workers keep their manufacturing jobs in the United States. If that doesn't work, he'll rip up what he calls "the worst trade deal in history." That may not be the smartest thing for Trump to do, although it is the first thing on his list. Closing down NAFTA is sim- ple enough. He gives Canada and Mexico a written notice under NAFTA Article 2205 that he'll be out of the agreement in six months, although it's not clear if he needs the approval of Congress. Canada's trade lawyers could end up arguing over that for years. It might be a lot smarter for Trump to do what Prime Minister Justin Tru- deau suggests — sit down and discuss changing the agreement to improve it for both countries. That's been done several times since 1994. And right now Canada is ready to discuss it, even including softwood lum- ber in the NAFTA agreement, making both countries winners. They were still counting votes in the United States on the night of election when Americans wanting to move to Canada began jamming up telephone lines in Canadian lawyers' offices. It lasted all evening and then through the night and into the next morning. Canadian immigration lawyers told callers that mov- ing to Canada is a lot more complicated than just pack- ing the bags and throwing the kids into the back of the car and then driving off to Canada. Then they stopped call- ing about moving and began calling about making money or not los- ing it because of the Trump election. They wanted to know from business lawyers and brokers where it was safe or not to invest in Canada. So many calls came in that some law firms designated an office specialist just to deal with U.S. election calls. They were told throwing American dollars across the border willy-nilly with- out knowing the situation was certainly not the smartest approach to invest- ments. Riyaz Dattu, an international business lawyer with Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, says business investments have to be thought out. And that takes time. You don't buy or sell on the basis of election results broad- cast on U.S. television or a Trump speech. Maybe Trump's real business target and free trade victim is Mexico, not Can- ada. Who knows right now? Is the Keystone XL pipe- line to Houston, Texas for real again? Who knows? Trump is not even president yet. One thing is sure. If there is a deal, companies will need good Canadian business law- yers to close it. If there isn't, they will need just as many lawyers. Or maybe Canada could end up instead with a pipe- line to the West Coast to ship oil sales to China and forget about Houston alto- gether. It's still more lucrative legal work. Canada is just getting started on its new free trade deal with Europe, cov- ering twice as many people as all of the United States. And who knows how far the Trans-Pacific Partnership might go? These are not the times to jump at the first thing offered to us, trade lawyers are telling clients. John Boscariol is an international trademarks lawyer with McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto. He says Donald Trump appears "very dangerous." But that's just an appearance, he adds. Boscariol says Trump could impose "taxes and duties on imports from Mex- ico" and penalize China by taxing Chi- nese products. Trump's policies could easily "trigger a trade war," but that would be in the fu- ture, not right away, he says. Boscariol advises patience to his clients. Alan Ross is a managing partner in the Calgary office of Borden Ladner Ger- vais LLP. He is an accomplished commercial litigation specialist and a member of the New York Bar Association and the Can- adian-American Business Council. He says president-elect Trump has yet to form his policies on most energy issues, but he does appear friendlier to fossil fuels and is not keen on Prime Minister Trudeau's carbon tax. All of this could have "significant im- plications for Canada's energy sector." Brock Gibson, chairman of Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP, says Canadian investors are a wise bunch who are "used to handling changes," but, for the time being, it's still early with the new U.S. administration. One area of business in which he expects major changes is the construction of pipelines, which he says could benefit Canada. So, for now, it's all watch and wait for Canadian trade and business lawyers. Nobody is moving very fast in any direc- tion. LT uRichard Cleroux is a freelance reporter and columnist on Parlia- ment Hill. His email address is richardcleroux34@gmail.com. The Hill Richard Cleroux

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