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Page 6 January 9, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com ©2017 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. LT.editor@thomsonreuters.com CIRCULATIONS & SUBSCRIPTIONS $199.00 + HST per year in Canada for print and online (HST Reg. #R121351134), $199 + HST per year for online only. 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Karen Lorimer Managing Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jennifer Brown Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gabrielle Giroday Staff Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alex Robinson Copy Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Cancilla CaseLaw Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Leah Craven Art Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phyllis Barone Production Co-ordinator . . . . . . . . .Catherine Giles Electronic Production Specialist . . . Derek Welford u EDITORIAL OBITER By Gabrielle Giroday Legislating leaves? The interesting facet of labour and employment law is how it impacts all of us in our daily lives. While some areas of law are not likely to have direct spinoff effects on our day-to-day existence, changes to legislation in this area can have a wide-ranging ripple effect on employers and workers alike. This week, writer Michael McKiernan notes in a piece on paid leaves for victims of domestic and sexual violence that, before 2001, Ontario had just two types of job-protected leaves, related to preg- nancy and parental leave. That number has now reached 10 types of job-protected (but un- paid) leaves, including those for crime-related child death and for organ donors. One lawyer has speculated that this might be an issue of prov- inces copying what other jurisdictions have underway. "I'm not sure if there's a survey going on, but a lot of the leaves are similar to ones in other provinces. "Once a province passes one, and it seems to be working, others pick them up, and the wording in the legislation is often almost iden- tical," says Megan Beal, a lawyer with Filion Wakely Thorup An- geletti LLP. "They're not just falling out of the sky, although Ontario does seem to have more than most." The rapid growth of leaves available to Ontarians — even on ex- CUPE sues the Queen over Hydro sale BY IAN HARVEY H er Majesty is probably not hap- py. It was nearly Christmas and, thud, on the table lands a 29-page statement of claim naming Her Majesty the Queen In Right of Ontario as represented by the Premier of Ontar- io, the Minister of Finance and the Min- ister of Energy as defendants. The plaintiffs are the 639,000 mem- bers of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Fred Hahn, the CUPE On- tario president who represents 258,000 provincial members and is also acting on his own behalf as an Ontario resident and ratepayer, perennial poverty protes- tor John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty and National Farmers Union president Dianne Dowling. Court file CV-16 565-423 was filed Dec. 6 at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. At the heart of the dispute is the Ontario government's decision to sell shares in Hydro One Ltd., the pub- licly traded corporation, and dispose of Hydro One Inc., the original public en- tity, and the manner of the sale. The plaintiffs want the court to de- clare the sale constitutes "malfeasance in public office" and that Hydro One rate- payers are "being unlawfully required to pay more than $1.2 billion in debt retire- ment charges to the Ontario Electricity Financial Corpo- ration." It seeks an accounting of all the funds, damages in the modest amount of $100,000 for malfeasance and punitive damages of $1 million, plus, of course, costs. More interesting are the allegations that the entire scheme is a party fundraising front. "The claim alleges, among other things, that the sale was approved and conducted, in whole or in part, to curry favour with an elite class of financial institutions, law firms and investors who stood to benefit from the sale, for the purpose of reward- ing their past, and encouraging their fu- ture support for and financial contribu- tions to the Ontario Liberal Party." Of course, none of the claims has been proven in court, but it certainly makes interesting, if not salacious, read- ing. The claim goes on to say the firms involved in the sale collected more than $75 million for their financial and legal services and their clients, the private in- vestors who scooped up the shares, have seen a handsome profit largely because of the way the deal was structured. "The ratepayers would bear unnecessary and unlawful charges to the benefit of pri- vate shareholders," it alleges. The claim also alleges, "While delivering profits and gains to various private interests, the Ministers' de- cisions in respect of the sale of Hydro One shares caused great harm to Ontario taxpayers includ- ing the Plaintiffs by depriving them of more than $500 million in annual fu- ture revenues, and to Hydro One rate- payers who are being improperly re- quired to pay more than $1.2 billion in Debt Retirement Charges." The defendants compounded this by shielding their actions from future scru- tiny with an omnibus bill that exempted Hydro One before privatization, and re- moved it from the purview of the auditor general, ombudsman, Information and Privacy commissioner, the Financial Accountability Office and the Integrity commissioner. The government, desper- ate for revenues, pressed ahead. It found some 14 collaborators on Bay Street to underwrite the sale and some big legal guns, including Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP as legal counsel to Hydro One Ltd., Torys LLP as legal counsel to the Province of Ontario and Blake Cas- sels & Graydon LLP for the underwriters. And that's the problem, according to the claim, which goes on to detail how the 14 collaborators benefited. The suit goes on to name names and connect the dots between the Bay Street folks and Liberal Party of Ontario fund- raising events. Whether there was a breach under the Members' Integrity Act, 2004 is now within the court's pur- view. CUPE counsel Steven Shrybman of Goldblatt Partners LLP in Toronto has a tough job ahead to bring this to a conclu- sion. Given the amount of smoke, how- ever, it is a determination best tasked to the court to sort out the mess and ascer- tain the truth, or a reasonable facsimile, given that we are dealing with politicians and political parties. LT uIan Harvey has been a journalist for more than 40 years writing about a di- verse range of issues including legal and political affairs. His email address is ianharvey@rogers.com. tremely legitimate grounds — is a subject worthy of scrutiny. On one hand, I think it is admirable to pro- tect rights of vulnerable people not fit to attend work. However, the hard part may be for lawyers and other members of the public to track how widely these new provisions are actually used. LT Queen's Park Ian Harvey

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