On October 21, 2020, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (“PayPal”) announced the launch of a new service enabling its customers to buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly within their PayPal account.

On April 11, 2020 the Federal Government passed legislation providing more details on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. This program was introduced by the Federal Government in hopes that it would allow employers to re-hire their workforce. The Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance indicated that the intention of this program is to allow employees to continue to be paid and to be connected to their employers, to support our economy in remaining strong and sustaining the best position to rebuild rapidly when we are able to recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

As Canadian businesses begin to reopen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, summer camps, recreational sports teams, and universities have started to require a waiver of liability for contracting COVID-19, a “COVID liability waiver,” before using their services.

Bishop & McKenzie LLP is pleased to announce that Jeffrey B. Champion, Q.C., a partner in the Edmonton office's litigation group, has been appointed as a Judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta.

In Uber, the driver previously accepted Uber's standard form agreement. The agreement contained an arbitration clause, which required the Uber driver to resolve any disputes in the Netherlands. The arbitration process also cost $14,500USD in administrative/commencement fees, which represented most of the driver's annual income.

On April 6, 2020, the Government of Alberta announced the immediate implementation of temporary changes to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code (“the Code”). The stated purposes for these changes are to allow businesses to respond to current public health measures while supporting employees’ connection to the workforce and their ability to access federal assistance programs. In addition, these changes are expected to provide businesses with additional flexibility so that they can remain operational during the current public health and economic crisis.