Canadian Lawyer

rEal EstatE Signing on the dotted line easy as 1-2 in the digital world However e-signatures still not wholly accepted for real estate transactions. has allowed for the various components of electronic commerce for more than a decade. Unless, of course, it's real estate we're talking about. The provinces, except Manitoba and New Brunswick, excluded electronic signatures involving the purchase and sale of real estate. Quebec did not use the Uniform Electronic Act, which served as the foundation for the legislation in the other provinces. Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador repealed their exclusion when they instituted electronic land registration systems. Quebec's governing body for real estate brokers adopted a set of technical specifications for electronic signatures in land transactions to comply with that province's Act to Establish a Legal Framework for www.CANADIAN Information Technology. In Ontario, a private members' bill to amend the Electronic Commerce Act to allow for the use of electronic signatures in real estate transactions has gone through second reading. A previous attempt died on the order table last year when former premier Dalton McGuinty suddenly announced his resignation and prorogued government. "Different provincial regulators have interpreted similar statutory language differently," observes Simon Parham, legal counsel with the Canadian Real Estate Association. The association has examined the legislation in each of the provinces and the exceptions under legislation. "Each regulator has its own view." He points to a strict position taken L a w ye r m a g . c o m November/December 2013 23 mick coulAs A s technology evolves to more fully service the needs of business, business has become increasingly reliant on technology and all it has to offer. But the relationships between technology, business, and the laws within which they operate have not yet fully evolved. Even though the technology to move further ahead may be in place, the bridge allowing society to transition from the paper world to the digital isn't yet fully built. One major pillar upon which that bridge rests is the electronic signature. Sure, signing your John Henry on a document that is dispatched electronically is not a complicated matter; legislation by Marg. brUineMan

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