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Equitable Subordination Redux? Section 183 Of The Bankruptcy And Insolvency Act And Respecting The 'Legislative Will' Of Parliament, Thomas G. W. Telfer

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The Supreme Court of Canada has yet to rule on whether the American doctrine of equitable subordination is part of Canadian law. In Re US Steel, the Ontario Court of Appeal suggested in obiter that section 183 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) conferred upon courts the power to equitably subordinate a claim. This article focuses on the specific point of whether section 183 of the BIA provides the court jurisdiction in equity to subordinate a claim and alter the statutory priority scheme. Equitable jurisdiction found in section 183 of the BIA does not represent a broad power to …