New Law To Benefit Business, Others

Legislation introduced today, Oct. 7, would reduce red tape in commercial litigation and other civil matters by allowing transfers of court cases from one province to another.

Justice Minister Michael Baker introduced the Court Jurisdiction and Proceedings Transfer Act, which covers the common law rules that courts use to determine whether they have jurisdiction to hear cases. It also allows the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia to transfer cases to and from other jurisdictions.

"The provinces are taking a common approach to commercial law and enforcement of legal rights," said Mr. Baker. "In the long run, this approach will benefit consumers, investors and business owners by making it easier to do business across Canada."

The Nova Scotia legislation is part of the commercial law strategy of the Uniform Law Conference of Canada, which was released after consultations with governments, business groups, law reform organizations and academics. The strategy's goal is to modernize and harmonize commercial law in Canada.

"We're doing our part in Nova Scotia to establish a uniform set of standards for determining court jurisdiction and enforcing judgments," said Mr. Baker. "As commercial matters increasingly cross provincial borders, we need to do all we can to reduce the time and expense of litigation."