UTGB Vol 5.pdf - Robson Hall Faculty of Law

86 Underneath the Golden Boy
$50 000. Mr. Alard's store never opened and he received nothing in return for
his deposit. 12 Although this is the only Pizza One case that has been reported in
Manitoba, there are several examples in Ontario. 13
It is important to note in this context that a review of court decisions is unlikely
to provide an accurate representation of franchise disputes because some
franchise agreements require arbitration and do not reach the courts. 14
Nonetheless, the fact that some cases are still getting to court is somewhat
indicative of what Mr. Maloway alluded to in 1992. In other words, Manitoba is
facing a problem with franchisors abusing franchisees and legislation must be
introduced to address the situation.
B. The Ontario Example
When considering Manitoba's need for franchise legislation, there are two
primary reasons why Ontario's experience should be taken into account. First, it
is one of the three provinces in Canada to have franchise legislation, and it is
known as having the most franchisee friendly version. This is important in
Manitoba because, according to the Law Commission's report, it is a franchisee
rather than a franchisor province. 15 Second, when drafting model legislation,
the Uniform Law Conference of Canada followed Ontario's legislation as its
base. However, rather than looking at Ontario's Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise
Disclosure), 2000/ 6 the following will consider articles and Legislative Assembly
discussions to determine what factors influenced the province to introduce such
legislation.
Ontario first addressed the idea of introducing franchise legislation with the
Grange Report recommendations of 1971. 17 However, no act would come to
fruition until the much publicized Pizza Pizza case, 887574 Ontario Inc. v. Pizza
12
Alexandra Paul, "City Man Burned by Pizza Franchise Scam,, Winnipeg Free Press, (12
February 2007), online: Winnipeg Free Press Live ; Paul Turenne, "Avoid Being the Victim," Winnipeg
Sun (12 February 2007), online: Winnipeg SUN Media .
13
Some of the most recent Pizza One cases from Ontario include Ramjit v. 3 of 1 Pizza &
Wings (Canada) Inc., [2004] CarswellOnt 6402; Scott v. 3 for 1 Pizza & Wings (Canada)
Inc., [2003] CarswellOnt 3790; MAA Diners Inc. v. 3 for 1 Pizza and Wings (Canada) Inc.
(2003), 30 B.L.R. (3d) 279i Ali v. Triple 3 Holdings Inc., [2001] O.J. No. 5755.
14
Manitoba Law Reform Commission, "Consultation Paper on Franchise Legislation," online:
Current Projects at 15.
15
Ibid. at 47.
16
s.o. 2000, c. 3.
17
S.G.M. Grange, Report of the Minister's Committee on Referral Sales, Multi Level Sales and
Franchises, Ontario Ministry of Financial and Commercial Affairs (1971).