Canadian Lawyer - sample

w w w . c a n a d i a n l a w y e r m a g . c o m M A Y 2 0 1 9 19 A s Ontario prepares to enact the second phase of its construc- tion lien legislation, the other provinces are considering or implementing a similar new prompt payment and adjudication regime. There is also movement afoot for a national initiative as Public Services and Procurement Canada explores legislation to improve the timeliness of payments for federal construction contracts through all tiers of the construction industry. Industry groups have been calling for intervention as money in the increas- ingly complicated construction projects is slow to trickle down through the many layers of services in the industry, particularly to subcontractors and the trades. Public Services and Procurement Canada sought industry input on the possibility of national legislation that would ensure that money cascades down the construction pyramid more efficiently, which resulted in the "Building a Federal Framework for Prompt Payment and Adjudication" report by Can- adian construction and infrastructure law firm Singleton Urquhart Reynolds Vogel LLP. It acknowledged a need for contractors to avoid the disruptive effects of delayed payment, prevent trade contractors from needing to add contingencies to their bid prices based on perceived risks of delayed or non- payment and reduce the risk of insolvencies in the construction industry. The report recommended legislation like that introduced in Ontario — CONSTRUCTION LIEN REFORM Changes to the prompt payment and adjudication regimes is afoot across Canada By Marg. Bruineman R E A L E S T A T E which is the only province so far to have prompt payment and adjudication legislation — to create more of a national alignment. Ontario, meanwhile, is preparing to implement the second phase and largely considered the most significant part of its newly named Construction Act this October, after living with the first phase, involving lien modernization, since July 2018. The second phase introduces a prompt payment scheme as well as a mandatory adjudication system. But it took three tries for Ontario to get legislation in place, says Richard Wong, chairman of the construction and infra- structure group at Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP in Toronto. Earlier iterations introduced since 2012 were considered unduly harsh from the owners' perspective. This prompt- ed expert reviews and canvassing of the industry, resulting in a report that recog- nized competing interests but acknowledged a need for a mechanism to allow payment to move through the construction pyramid while providing a means to resolve disputes more quickly. "Projects have become bigger and more complicated over the years," he says. "The size of projects now are in the billions of dollars when they used to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Projects are becoming much more multi-faceted. "There's so many layers. What has hap- FAYE ROGERS

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