The new law has a broader reach and is
designed to focus attention on reducing
fights and speeding up payments.
Ontario lawyers brace for
building law changes
BY JIM MIDDLEMISS
A
sk Bruce Karn what is keeping him
busy these days and the senior legal
counsel at construction giant Ellis-
Don will say it is the pending chang-
es to Ontario's Construction Lien Act.
The Ontario government is significantly
overhauling the 35-year-old legislation in two
phases, he notes. The first phase is moderniz-
ing the legislation, which comes into effect on
July 1. The second and more significant reform,
however, will take place in October 2019.
That's when a new prompt payment scheme,
the first of its kind in Canada, and a new adju
-
dication system will be applied to the industry.
Karn warns that "what worked five years ago
may not be appropriate now" under what will
soon be known as the Construction Act.
The new law has a much broader reach and
is designed to move the industry off its warring
ways and focus attention on reducing fights and
speeding up payments within the "construction
pyramid," so that money flows down faster from
the project owner through the general contrac
-
tor and on to the various subtrades.
CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE JULY/AUGUST 2018
27
