LAWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Laws

Sep 21: Bill C-38 extends the temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax until January 31, 2027, saving Canadians over $5 on a typical fill-up of a 50-litre gas tank. After that, the regular rates will be reduced by 50% until March 31, 2027. First introduced in April 2026, the tax relief measure covers gasoline, aviation gasoline (leaded and unleaded), diesel fuel, and aviation fuel.

Airborne Contaminants

Sep 9: Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) posted a new Hazard Alert about grain dust, exposure to which may cause eye, skin, and upper respiratory tract irritation, bronchitis symptoms, and chronic decrements in pulmonary function. High concentrations of grain dusts in the air can also create an explosion hazard.

Action Point: Find out how to implement an effective Combustible Dust Safety & Compliance Game Plan.

Transportation Safety

Sep 21: New legislation (Bill C-39) proposes to modernize the 40-year-old Transportation Security Clearance Program by broadening use of clearances, expanding risk assessments, enhancing information sharing, and implementing new enforcement measures.

Transportation Safety

Sep 24: The federal government announced over $4.5 million in funding for 12 new projects under the Rail Safety Improvement Program’s (RSIP) Education and Awareness stream to enhance rail safety in Canada. The projects will promote safer behaviour around trains, tracks, and grade crossings via outreach and education.

Infectious Illness

Sep 21: Newly tabled and soon to be passed Bill C-39 clarifies that Canada Labour Code paid medical leave requirements don’t apply to a collective agreement that provides employees paid medical leave at least as generous as the Code and also provides for the settlement of disagreements by a third party. In such situations, the settlement of disputes over those rights and benefits is governed solely by the collective agreement.

Action Point: Use the OHS Insider Infection Exposure Control Plan template to prevent infectious illness outbreaks that can force workers to take medical leave.

New Laws

Sep 8: As expected, Canada matched the new Trump tariffs with counter-tariffs of 15%, 25%, and 50% $27.6 billion in U.S. imports focusing on steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, electronics, and other impacted sectors.

Action Point: Find out about the 7 steps to take to ensure U.S. tariffs don’t compromise your OHS program.

New Laws

Sep 29: The federal government will soon propose a “game-changing” Productivity Mega Deduction allowing businesses to immediately deduct from income tax the full cost of a much broader range of investments, including fibre-optic cable, greenhouses, mining property, oil and gas pipelines, software, research and development, computer equipment, aircraft and vehicles, patents, rail track, bridges, and roads. The legislation will also make immediate expensing permanent. These changes will lower the marginal effective tax rate on new business investment from roughly 13% to 6.4% % – the lowest of any major economy in the world.

Industry Challenges

Sep 20: The federal government announced an investment of up to $1,071,532 over two years for the Canadian Agricultural Safety Association (CASA) for activities that promote health and safety on farms, including safety campaigns, training, and injury prevention research. Average agriculture-related fatalities have decreased by 36%, from 110 deaths per year (from 1990 to 2005) to 70 deaths per year (2006 to 2020).

Privacy

Sep 10: The Privacy Commissioner of Canada issued new guidance to help businesses subject to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) vet potential third-party service providers. PIPEDA requires organizations to safeguard the privacy of personal information that they transfer to outside providers for processing. The guidance outlines best practices for identifying privacy compliance risks, deciding whether to work with a particular provider, drafting contractual protections, and documenting compliance. Deadline to comment: December 4.

Action Point: Find out more about how privacy laws affect workplace safety.

Environmental

Sep 21: The Bill C-39 legislation working its way through Parliament will make it easier for companies to launch projects affecting the environment by establishing a one-year timeline for federal environmental approval decisions, implementing a “one window” single project assessor system, and coordinating the permitting and assessment processes to reduce duplication and delay.

Action Point: Find out more about federal-provincial one project, one review environmental assessment agreements and how they work.

Environmental

Sep 21: Newly tabled Bill C-39 amends the Environmental Protection Act to give government inspectors to issue compliance orders and take other enforcement actions when they have “reasonable grounds to believe” that a violation has or is likely to occur.

Environmental

Sep 21: Bill C-39 proposes key changes to the Fisheries Act. Under current rules, proponents may use their own habitat bank (from previous projects) or create their own project-specific offsetting to offset the project’s harmful impacts to fish and fish habitat. The proposed changes will enable third parties to sell habitat credits to proponents for offsetting. It would also allow proponents of projects determined to have minor impacts to pay a fee-in-lieu to the Environmental Damages Fund for offsetting.

Environmental

Sep 23: It’s on to Committee for Bill C-244 banning the owner of a vessel from transferring ownership of it to a person, knowing that —or in reckless disregard as to whether— the transferee lacks the ability, resources, or intent to maintain, operate, or dispose of the vessel in a manner that prevents it from becoming wrecked, abandoned, or hazardous.

CASES

Environmental: Steel Company Fined $1.2 Million for St. Mary’s River Gear Oil Spill

An Ontario court fined a steel company $1.2 million for an incident resulting in the overflow of an estimated 1,000 to 1,250 litres of gear oil into the St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie. The company pled guilty to depositing a deleterious substance in water frequented by fish and areas used by migratory birds in violation of the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 [Algoma Steel Inc., Govt. Press Release, September 11, 2026].

Return To Work: Manager Laid Off While on Disability Leave Gets Chance to Prove Discrimination

As part of a larger corporate restructuring, Bell Canada eliminated a position while the manager occupying it was away on long-term disability leave. The manager, who was in the company’s long-term disability rehabilitation program and was planning to return to work, sued for disability discrimination. The Human Rights Tribunal dismissed the case after finding no evidence that the manager’s disability factored into the decision to eliminate her position. In reversing, the appeals court reasoned that the issue wasn’t simply the elimination of the manager’s position, but also the company’s decision to treat a disabled employee who remained within its rehab program “as though she were already an active and well employee.” Since the Tribunal didn’t address the question, the case had to go back down to determine “whether prematurely ending an employee’s disability coverage before they are fit to return to work. . . is discriminatory” [O’Grady v. Bell Canada, 2026 FCA 162 (CanLII), September 29, 2026].

Action Point: Return to Work is a major compliance challenge not simply because of workers’ compensation requirements but also the fact that worker injuries typically constitute “disabilities” for which employers must make reasonable accommodations under human rights laws. Find out how to implement a legally sound Return to Work Compliance Game Plan for injured workers.