Law & Social Change: Construction Law

Construction is one of the largest industries in Canada, contributing a 7.5% to Canada’s GDP annually, and employing more than 1.4 million people. The construction industry is broad and multi-faceted. From residential construction including houses and condominiums to commercial construction, such as office towers and hotels to industrial and infrastructure development including hospitals, schools, roads, and transportation systems. In Toronto alone, the scale of current construction projects is evident from a simple look at the skyline. With recent changes to the Ontario legislation and large amounts of government funding being directed towards revitalizing provincial and federal infrastructure, now is the perfect time to study this area. Construction law is a rapidly growing specialized field which has developed into its own distinctive area of law, with a rich jurisprudential history in Canada. The industry is ordered by a complex web of private contracts, public laws and regulations, and a set of common law duties, unique to the industry in some instances. In this course, we will survey and examine the legal relationships between all stakeholders and the respective legal rights and remedies. The course will canvass the private law of contract, tort, real property, debtor-creditor, agency, administrative law and trusts. In addition, we will cover related topics concerning public law and legislation relating to sale of goods, personal property security, liens, trusts, and adjudication. This course will allow students to analyze construction law issues and apply these principles of law in a construction setting. Guest speakers will be invited to contribute to some discussions.