The Government of Canada is restructuring the Ministries of Transport (Transport Canada) and Fisheries and Oceans, as well as the Canadian Coast Guard. The goal is to cut costs, to become more efficient and businesslike, and to contribute to a reduction in the federal Government’s budget.

It has been declared by the Supreme Court of Canada that “Laws of Canada” in the Constitution Act 1867, s. 101 refers only to federal law. Absent the adoption by the federal Government, of a federal contributory negligence Act, at least for maritime matters (other than ship collisions), we are left with either the archaic contributory negligence bar of the common law or the divided damages rule, rather than the comparative fault rules of the provinces. Unfortunately, the federal Government is undecided as to whether there will be a referential adoption of provincial law or an amendment to the Canada Shipping Act or a separate federal statute. Thus, nothing is in the offing.

A movement is being led by Isaac, C.J., of the Federal Court, which would bring “case management” to the Federal Court by 1 September 1996. There are many practitioners who doubt whether the new rules (draft Amending Order No. 18) will speed up litigation, believing instead that they could cause delays in proceedings. Whatever the result, it is a laudatory attempt to improve Admiralty practice in Canada.