Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitations

The Manitoba Law Reform Commission has just released a report proposing reforms to provincial legislation on limitations.

The most important proposal is for the abolition of the various categories of claims set out in the current Act, and their replacement with a single, basic two year limitation applicable to all claims unless they are otherwise dealt with.

This two year limitation would begin running when the existence of a claim was discovered or discoverable, instead of when the cause of action arose.

There would be exceptions in areas such as claims arising out of sexual assaults or assaults in intimate or dependent relationships, claims of aboriginal title, proceedings for a declaration of existing rights if no consequential relief is sought, and proceedings to recover fines or taxes owing to the Crown.

Earlier Library Boy posts on limitations include:

• Manitoba Law Reform Commission Report on Limitations of Actions (July 5, 2009): "The Manitoba Law Reform Commission recently published a Draft Report for Consultation on the province's Limitations of Actions Act: (...) 'The Limitation of Actions Act was originally enacted in 1931. Although amended three times since then (in 1967, 1980, and 2002) it is fundamentally based on an amalgam of limitations provisions that originated in England centuries ago. In other words, it is highly dated, and it is showing its age. The Act badly requires modernization, and in this report the Commission has identified what it sees as the primary areas requiring modernization, as well as the best ways of accomplishing that goal. In light of the work that has been done in recent years in other Canadian jurisdictions, the Commission sees no need to reinvent this wheel. For the most part, in this report we have described the structure of the 'modern' limitations regimes found in other jurisdictions, and analyzed whether they are suitable for Manitoba and how, if at all, they ought to be adapted for Manitoba’s conditions'. "
• British Columbia White Paper on Limitation Act Reform (September 17, 2010): "The government of British Columbia has published a White Paper aimed at reforming the province's Limitation Act (...) Among the major recommendations in the White paper: moving from a variety of basic limitation periods to a single two-year basic limitation period for all civil claims ; eliminating the special six-year ultimate limitation period for negligence claims against doctors, hospitals and hospital employees. All lawsuits will be governed by a single ultimate limitation period of either 10 or 15 years"